Adjustable Gastric Band

This option restricts how much the stomach can hold by placing an adjustable band around the upper part of the stomach. There is no cutting or stapling needed to divide the upper stomach pouch from the lower stomach. The result is you take in less food. But unlike stomach stapling, The LAP-BAND can be adjusted to suit your situation, and can be removed if necessary.

The LAP-BAND System’s Adjustable Band is a silicone elastomer hollow ring filled with saline and placed around the upper part of the stomach. This creates a new small stomach pouch, with the larger part of the stomach below the band. This way, the food storage area in the stomach is reduced. The pouch above the band can hold only a small amount of food. The band also controls the stoma (stomach outlet) between the two parts of the stomach. The size of the opening between the two parts of the stomach controls the flow rate of the food from the upper to the lower part of the stomach. This lets you feel full sooner. The feeling also lasts longer. To change the size of the stoma, the inner surface of the band can be adjusted by adding or removing saline. This process is called inflating or deflating. Saline is a solution like other fluids in your body.

The band is connected by a tube to an access port placed beneath the skin during surgery. Later, the surgeon can control the amount of saline in the band by piercing the access port through the skin with a fine needle. If the band is too loose and weight loss too small, adding more saline can reduce the size of the stoma. If the band is too tight, the surgeon will remove some saline. This too can be done without more surgery. Being able to adjust the band is a unique feature of The LAP-BAND System and is a normal part of the follow-up. If adjusting the band does not help you lose weight the way you and your doctor want it to, or if the band is still too tight, another surgery may be needed.