There are a number of different types of weight loss surgery available now including the quite new procedure of gastric lap banding which is gaining in popularity and is rapidly becoming the favorite choice for a significant number of morbidly obese people. But are you a suitable candidate for gastric lap band surgery?

In providing an answer to this question we will start by presuming that you are a suitable candidate for obesity surgery in general and that your only concern therefore is whether or not you should be thinking about lap banding. In simple terms this would mean that you are over 18, are morbidly obese with a body mass index (BMI) in excess of 40 (or in excess of 35 with at least one co-morbid condition and that you have already attempted traditional weight loss methods (possibly including drug treatment) without success.

It is frequently thought that people considering weight loss surgery are merely overweight and it is all too easy to forget that people who are severely overweight are usually suffering from various other conditions, many of which stem from the fact that they are overweight. It is the presence of these other conditions which frequently presents an obstacle when it comes to choosing between different surgical options.

As lap band surgery is a type of restrictive surgery where the stomach is physically restricted in size to limit the amount of food that can be passed through the stomach and digestive system, it follows that this type of surgery is probably not going to be suitable if your esophagus, stomach or intestine are abnormal. Any abnormality might be congenital or acquired and a typical difficulty experienced is a narrowing at some point along the digestive tract.

Problems within the esophagus or stomach which might lead to bleeding (such as esophageal or gastric varices – a dilated vein) would also make gastric lap banding impractical, as would problems at the site where the band would be placed around the stomach, such as an injury, gastric perforation or scarring.

Problems may also arise if you are suffering from any type of inflammation or inflammatory disease in the gastrointestinal tract like ulcers, esophagitis or Crohn’s disease.

Finally, lap banding is not considered suitable for pregnant women or for women who are contemplating pregnancy. If a woman becomes pregnant after lap band surgery it is possible to deflate the band to allow for the increased nutritional requirement but, where deflating the band does not do the trick, the band could have to be removed.

One benefit of lap band weight loss surgery is that the procedure can be reversed and, should it prove necessary, the band can be removed and the stomach returned to its previous state. However, this can also be a disadvantage of the system. Motivation is the key to any form of obesity surgery but is a particular issue in the case of lap banding. If you have any doubt about how determined you are to succeed then this type of surgery might not be the best choice for you.

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 10:12 am and is filed under Weight Loss, Weight Loss Surgery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.