The surgeon places an adjustable silicone band around the upper part of the stomach, which holds less food and gives the feeling of fullness much sooner and for a longer period of time. This procedure requires no cutting, stapling, or stomach re-routing, and it's fully reversible.

Weight loss

The average gastric banding patient will lose about 1 to 2 pounds per week and may lose up to 50 percent of their excess weight.

Notes

Gastric banding is the only adjustable surgical treatment for morbid obesity in the United States. During surgery, doctors place an adjustable band around the upper part of the stomach. To modify the size of the band, surgeons inject a fine needle through a port in the skin and add or remove saline solution. If you have the band removed, your stomach will generally return to its original form. Surgeons at Saint Luke’s use both the LAP-BAND® and Realize® band.

Risks

This surgery does have risks: 1 percent of bands slip; less than 1 percent cause erosion at the site; and 5 to 10 percent have problems with the port that allows the surgeon to adjust the size of the band.

Saint Luke’s surgeons perform almost all of their procedures laparoscopically. Laparoscopy is a minimally invasive method requiring much smaller incisions than traditional open surgery. This leads to less pain, a shorter hospital stay, and fewer complications.