Gastric banding caused more complications than weight loss

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. Almost half 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. “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.”