Nearly half of patients who have laparoscopic gastric banding for obesity eventually need to have the devices removed because of erosion or some other malfunction, researchers say.
Among 82 patients followed for at least 12 years after lap-band surgery at a single institution, 49 had at least one reoperation for complications or device failure, according to Dr. Jacques Himpens, of Saint Pierre University Hospital in Brussels, and colleagues.
Nearly half of patients who have laparoscopic gastric banding for obesity eventually need to have the devices removed because of erosion or some other malfunction, researchers say.
Among 82 patients followed for at least 12 years after lap-band surgery at a single institution, 49 had at least one reoperation for complications or device failure, according to Dr. Jacques Himpens, of Saint Pierre University Hospital in Brussels, and colleagues.
They also reported online in Archives of Surgery that 41 had the bands removed during follow-up, with 14 then undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. In all but a few cases, inadequate weight loss or device breakdown was the reason for band removal.
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“The high failure rate of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, at least in our hands, could be detrimental to its future continued widespread use as a restrictive weight-loss operation,” Himpens and colleagues wrote.
The Mini-Gastric Bypass (MGB) 
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