Stomach Band for Weight Loss Wins Approval

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, In today's New York Times, 6/7/01


ASHINGTON, June 6 — A band that can be implanted around the stomach and tightened to help severely obese people lose weight has won government approval.

The Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday that it had approved the Lap-Band Adjustable Gastric Banding System, which is made by BioEnterics System of Carpinteria, Calif.

The band is placed around the upper stomach using keyhole surgery, which requires only a small opening.

Once in place, the device is inflated with saline and can be tightened or loosened. It creates a small stomach pouch that limits food consumption and creates an earlier feeling of fullness, the agency said.

The agency said the Lap-Band was intended only for severely obese people, those at least 100 pounds overweight or twice their ideal body weight and who had failed to lose weight by diet, exercise and other programs.

Severe obesity can lead to serious health problems, including high blood pressure, gall bladder disease and diabetes.

The agency said people who had the Lap-Band implanted would still need to diet and exercise to maintain their weight loss. The band is intended to remain in place permanently but can be removed.

The only other surgical treatments for obesity have been more invasive, like stomach stapling and gastric bypass.

In clinical trials, the Lap-Band was implanted in 299 patients at eight medical centers. The patients were required to follow a severely restricted diet afterward and to exercise at least 30 minutes a day.

Most patients steadily lost weight during the three-year study, averaging 36 percent of their excess weight. Two percent of the patients gained weight, and 5 percent remained the same.

About 25 percent of the patients had the band removed because of side effects or insufficient weight loss. Some 89 percent experienced at least some side effects, which included nausea and vomiting, heartburn, abdominal pain and band slippage.

[momof4girls]

doesn't sound to safe to me (or comfortable)

to each his/her own.

Oh, I agree -- I just posted it because I want everyone to know what drastic measures are being "invented" by doctors to CURE us. there is NO Cure, as Jean Nidetch said. We will never be cured, we will always be recovering!

[debp]

Ok....I work for an MD and have to comment. My receptionist had this surgery done-yes, she's lost some weight (2# a week) BUT she's been telling everyone she's NO LONGER a diabetic! I work for a diabetic specialist and so all these folks want this surgery. WRONG! She is a diet controlled diabetic. Once a diabetic, always a diabetic. Well..one of my other patients had this surgery and she came in last week and said it was the worst mistake of her life-she is always feeling deprived-those feelings never ever go away-and if anyone wanted to ask her about these kinds of surgeries-have them call her. She said it was awful-the pain, her incision won't heal, etc etc etc. Her parting comment to me was, "Tell them all to go to WW".
Granted this isn't the new surgery out, but the old.
I think they are all bad ideas-why will one's insurance pay for this, but not WW?
Ok......now I feel better.
debbie

One of the problems we all face w/ insurers is their general reluctance to participate in lifeSAVING measures. They are much more likely to pay when it becomes a drastic situation, or when surgical intervention is necessary. I'm old enough (oh, God) to remember when insurance didn't pay for mammograms! (they'd rather pay for mastectomies and chemo and radiation at one point) but that's all changed. With dieting/weight loss, even though there is a proven link between heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc., they still are reluctant to pay for measures like WW than these invasive procedures.

Basically, I posted the article so everyone could see what dramatic techniques are being "discovered" and "invented" by surgeons... When the insurers are largely ignoring the methods like ours (When will they GET IT! WW is sanctioned by the US Dept of Health, and the FDA) that work, but are more "cloudy" as to their success rate. Sure, they cover fen-phen and appetite suppressants, which have been known to cause all sorts of secondary problems... Why they don't coover us is a mystery.