New Gastric Implant Aids Obese Patients

An improved gastric band helps morbidly obese patients achieve continued and sustained long-term weight loss without cutting, stapling, or intestinal re-routing, as is required with other weight-loss surgeries.

The Lap-Band advanced platform (AP) system has an adjustable gastric band, called Omniform, which offers a 360o inflation area that wraps uniformly around the stomach, minimizing the potential for crease-fold failure. The medical device is available in two size options to accommodate varying patient and surgical-technique requirements. The new design has attributes of the original Lap-Band system product line available since 1993 with nearly 300,000 gastric banding procedures performed worldwide.

During surgery with the Lap-Band system, surgeons use laparoscopic surgical techniques to implant an adjustable, reversible, inflatable band around the upper portion of the patient's stomach, which creates a small stomach pouch. The procedure results in weight loss by creating an earlier feeling of satiety and thus limiting or reducing food consumption. Based on global experience and clinical data, it has been demonstrated that patients who undergo the procedure experience a 55% average long-term weight loss. Additionally, an improvement in weight-related co-morbidities has been observed in these patients, including type II diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, sleep apnea, gastroesophageal reflux, hypertension, and asthma.

The Lap-Band System is the product of Allergan (Irvine, CA, USA)

"Adjustable gastric banding has provided bariatric surgeons with an effective, safe, and reversible weight-loss surgery option to treat their morbidly obese patients for more than a decade,” said Paul O'Brien, M.D. FRACS, director of the Centre of Obesity Research and Education at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia). "This latest advancement offers yet another safe, effective, and reversible weight-loss surgery solution to combat the global obesity epidemic.”



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