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------------ A New Option for Weight Loss Surgery
Title
----- A New Option for Weight Loss Surgery
A New Option for Weight Loss Surgery
---------------------------------------- These days, Jennifer Secrist has little interest in idle activities. The 23-year-old loves to rock climb, hike, ride her mountain bike, and do almost anything that gets her outside and moving.
"I can't stand to sit around," she tells WebMD. "I have so much energy now it's amazing." Weight Loss Surgery
--------------------------------------------------- Her secret: weight loss surgery that leaves her with a smaller stomach while leaving her with smaller scars than traditional surgery. What makes Secrist's story truly amazing is that in less than two years she has lost 107 pounds, thanks to adjustable gastric banding, a surgical procedure that is commonly performed in Europe, but has only been recently approved for use U.S.
The surgery can be performed laparoscopically, which means small tools are guided by a small camera through small incisions in abdomen. The traditional weight loss procedure in U.S., gastric bypass, involves a large incision to surgically alter stomach and make it smaller. The Midland, Mich. woman traveled to Sweden to get surgery, and her mom and dad later made trip for same reason.
Adjustable Gastric Banding
----------------------------------------- Adjustable gastric banding is far less popular here than gastric bypass surgery. Banding has been done in U.S., yet previously required open surgery, with all its potential complications.
But two new studies find laparoscopic approach for banding to be a safe and effective weight loss option for people who are 100 pounds or more overweight. The studies, reported in latest issue of journal Annals of Surgery, found that patients who underwent gastric banding surgery lost roughly 50% of their excess body weight within two years.
The procedure involves implantation of a hollow silicone band placed around top of stomach, which is adjusted to determine how much food stomach can hold. The adjustment is made by inflating or deflating band using salt water piped in trough a tube attached to a port placed under skin near breastbone. Several types of bands are available in Europe, but FDA has approved only one - Lap-Band system made by California firm BioEnterics System.
