What is Laparoscopic Gastric Banding?
By: Mark MonteiroTotal Views: 32, Word Count: 735,
What is laparoscopic gastric banding? Is it true that a band can be put on your stomach to control your food intake? Well, then you must read this article about laparoscopy and gastric banding.
Laparoscopy is a popular surgery these days, because of the least pain it causes to the patient. Stomach related problems are now mostly handled with this technique. Laparoscopy alleviates the patient's pain caused by cutting and stapling back the skin.
Laparoscopy is also used by gynecologists to diagnose irregularities associated with infertility in women. The use of laparoscopy has been proved to be extremely beneficial for adults and old people.
In laparoscopy, a small incision is made in the belly and the laparoscopic instrument is passed through the belly for diagnosing purposes or surgical operations. This little instrument is so small that there is no need to cut the skin and a small incision is enough to let the instrument pass.
Why Laparoscopy?
- No pain, so no medication to stop the pain
- Smaller recovery time
- Shorter hospital stay
- Reduces the risk of hemorrhaging. Hemorrhaging is a type of an internal bleeding
What is Laparoscopic Gastric Banding?
Laparoscopic gastric banding is an advance medical surgery to control obesity. This band is also known as lap band. General anesthesia is used in almost all cases. First, a small incision is made near the belly-button. An adjustable band is then introduced in the stomach through the incision made in the abdomen, along with a small camera. This camera then sends pictures to the digital monitor and the doctor carries out the surgery. This band is then locked on the upper part of the stomach, making a small pouch. The other end of this band is then attached to the port fitted inside the belly.
This surgery takes about thirty minutes to one hour. After this surgery, the patient's food intake reduces drastically. The patient feels full for a longer duration, resulting in weight loss. Once the patient starts losing weight, it becomes necessary to adjust the band accordingly. This is done by inserting a special liquid from the port placed inside the belly.
Benefits of Gastric Banding
- On an average, patients lose around 1 kg weight every week, consistently
- Very low mortality ratio during and after surgeries
- Weight loss is adjusted by adjustable band that requires no more surgeries
- No serious complications
Threats and Complications
- In a rare scenario, there could be internal bleeding
- Nausea or vomiting in the early stages
- Infection may occur
- Digestive functions may get affected adversely
- Mechanical failures
- Patients may suffer ulceration
When Should One Undergo this Surgery?
- Extreme obesity
- (BMI) Body Mass Index is above 40
- 18-55 years old
Post-Surgery Diet
Now you know what is laparoscopic gastric banding and what all its benefits are. However, for this surgery to be successful, one must keep a watch on his or her eating habits. People who did not change their eating habits found themselves devouring on a same number of dishes every day.
Your surgeon may ask you to be on a liquid diet for some days. Even when the patient starts eating solid food, the food must be chewed properly before it is swallowed. Patients who are suffering from other diseases should eat pastes of healthy solid foods, for better control over calorie-intake. The success of your surgery is directly linked to your post-surgery diet.
This is a laparoscopic era, where more and more people now want to avoid painful, traumatic surgical experiences. The number of cases have shoot up in the last decade in Europe and America.
Laparoscopic gastric banding is a fully reversible surgery. The band causes no damage to your body. Success stories are many and they have hard fought battles preceding them.
About the Author
Dr. Mark Monteiro is graduated from the Hazard University and done his MBA from the he University Of Illinois College Of Medicine. Currently he is working as general physician at Elmhurst Loyola Center for Health. For over 15 years he has been a pioneer in the field of physician health. He has contributed to the treatment of many diseases like- ASTHMA, TUBERCULOSIS, HIV, HEPATITIS AND ITS TREATMENT
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