In Adjustable gastric banding procedure, a hollow band made of special material is placed around the stomach near its upper end, creating a small pouch and a narrow passage into the larger remainder of the stomach. The band is then inflated with a salt solution. It can be tightened or loosened over time to change the size of the passage by increasing or decreasing the amount of salt solution.
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What's changed with gastric banding?
Gastric banding has had a huge amount of evidence to support it as probably the safest procedure to have, and things that have made it simpler for the patient are; less suturing is required to fix the band into its position, it seems to sit in the right pouch without stitching which is something we did traditionally for the last decade or so, and furthermore the port that we adjust is placed close to the skin, which makes it a little easier to access with a needle, and might cause a little less discomfort when previously it was fixed on the abdominal wall.
How does a gastric band work?
A gastric band works by putting a small piece of tubing which is inflatable around the very upper portion of the stomach, in fact the stomach ends up being the size of a golf ball, instead of the size of a bucket when you eat a big meal, and direct pressure around the outside of the stomach acts on a nerve called the Vagus nerve which stimulates a part of our brain called the Hyperthalamus and says, "you're not hungry", in fact it's so easy, we simply tighten that band with an implantable device just below the skin, put a needle in, takes a minute, and inject this device and it tightens the band and the appetite is significantly suppressed. On top of that, the nerve mechanism will take away your hunger. If you actually eat less, you feel full, because that little baby stomach we've created by putting that band around the upper stomach stretches with a small meal, so patients can have an entrée size meal and instead of a big meal and immediately feel full. If they keep eating you feel uncomfortable, you keep eating, you chuck. So basically the band is pretty simple, it makes you eat less and it takes away your desire for food and your appetite is suppressed as well.
With Gastric banding, is it reversible?
The advantage with Gastric banding is that it is completely reversible, if you don't like it, initially, we will just take all the fluid out, invariably patient put their weight on and go, "Tighten that band up again for me, please", but it certainly is easily reversible, you go in through the laparoscope as a day case and remove the band, quite straight forward.
