Post by unlawflcombatnt on Mar 23, 2011 13:10:19 GMT -6
www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-21/obesity-lap-bands-may-cause-more-complications-than-weight-loss.html
Obesity Lap Bands Cause More Complications
Than Weight Loss, Study Finds
By Pat Wechsler -
Mar 21, 2011
"Almost 1/2 of patients undergoing gastric banding for obesity needed to have the device removed, often because of erosion, according to a study that found the treatment caused more complications than weight loss.
About 60% of the 82 patients with the device, Allergan Inc.’s Lap-Band, followed over 12 years or more needed additional operations, according to a study by Belgian researchers published online today by the Archives of Surgery....
About 220,000 people underwent weight-loss surgery in 2009, up since 2000 when 36,700 operations were performed, according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery in Gainesville, Florida. Gastric banding represents about one-third of that total.
“I personally no longer perform band gastroplasty, but I think it is defendable for surgeons to continue doing this,” said Jacques Himpens, the study’s lead author who works with the European School of Laparoscopic Surgery at Saint Pierre University Hospital in Brussels. “Patients should not expect too much from the procedure. If they do get the operation, they must commit themselves to lifelong and very tight follow-up.”....
Himpens and another author of the study have worked as consultants for Ethicon Endosurgery Inc., a Cincinnati unit of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), a competitor of Allergan which produces the Realize Solution band.....
Weight-loss surgery had been recommended for patients with a body mass index of 35 and who are suffering from obesity- related illnesses such as diabetes. The FDA approved an Allergan application that would allow the company to market lap bands, the proprietary name of the company’s product, to patients with a body mass index of 30. A BMI of 40 or more is considered severely, or extremely obese.
Band Removal
The Belgian study is “of interest” because it looks at long-term complications and the need to remove the band, said Bruce Wolfe, president of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. He said he also agrees with Himpens’s conclusion that any kind of weight-loss surgery requires regular physician follow-up.
23 patients, or 1 in 3 who responded to the survey, experienced band erosion, diagnosed after a median of four years, the study found. Almost 50% of the patients lost their bands within 9 years.....
“The complication rate and need for removal of the band are both concerning,” Wolfe said in a telephone interview."
Obesity Lap Bands Cause More Complications
Than Weight Loss, Study Finds
By Pat Wechsler -
Mar 21, 2011
"Almost 1/2 of patients undergoing gastric banding for obesity needed to have the device removed, often because of erosion, according to a study that found the treatment caused more complications than weight loss.
About 60% of the 82 patients with the device, Allergan Inc.’s Lap-Band, followed over 12 years or more needed additional operations, according to a study by Belgian researchers published online today by the Archives of Surgery....
About 220,000 people underwent weight-loss surgery in 2009, up since 2000 when 36,700 operations were performed, according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery in Gainesville, Florida. Gastric banding represents about one-third of that total.
“I personally no longer perform band gastroplasty, but I think it is defendable for surgeons to continue doing this,” said Jacques Himpens, the study’s lead author who works with the European School of Laparoscopic Surgery at Saint Pierre University Hospital in Brussels. “Patients should not expect too much from the procedure. If they do get the operation, they must commit themselves to lifelong and very tight follow-up.”....
Himpens and another author of the study have worked as consultants for Ethicon Endosurgery Inc., a Cincinnati unit of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), a competitor of Allergan which produces the Realize Solution band.....
Weight-loss surgery had been recommended for patients with a body mass index of 35 and who are suffering from obesity- related illnesses such as diabetes. The FDA approved an Allergan application that would allow the company to market lap bands, the proprietary name of the company’s product, to patients with a body mass index of 30. A BMI of 40 or more is considered severely, or extremely obese.
Band Removal
The Belgian study is “of interest” because it looks at long-term complications and the need to remove the band, said Bruce Wolfe, president of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. He said he also agrees with Himpens’s conclusion that any kind of weight-loss surgery requires regular physician follow-up.
23 patients, or 1 in 3 who responded to the survey, experienced band erosion, diagnosed after a median of four years, the study found. Almost 50% of the patients lost their bands within 9 years.....
“The complication rate and need for removal of the band are both concerning,” Wolfe said in a telephone interview."