{"id":24931,"date":"2012-04-18T01:15:26","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T01:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=24931"},"modified":"2016-12-04T08:18:50","modified_gmt":"2016-12-04T13:18:50","slug":"easy-weight-loss-solutions-lap-band-not-so-effective-dangerous-alan-freishtat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/health\/physical-health\/easy-weight-loss-solutions-lap-band-not-so-effective-dangerous-alan-freishtat\/","title":{"rendered":"Easy Weight Loss Solutions and the Lap Band: Not So Effective, Possibly Dangerous"},"content":{"rendered":"

In all of my years as a personal trainer and my involvement in the weight loss industry, the single most frequently asked question was, \u201cWhat piece of exercise equipment should I buy?” Not anymore.\u00a0Lately, I much more often hear, \u201cWhat do you think of getting ‘the band’ for weight loss?\u201d<\/p>\n

The overweight\/obesity epidemic has gotten out of hand.\u00a0Recent studies tell us that if the obesity trends continue as they \"\"<\/a>are now, by 2030 nearly half of all Americans will be obese. \u00a0Consequently, there will be an additional 6-8.5 million cases of diabetes, 5.7-7.3 million more cases of heart disease and stroke, and up to an additional 669,000 cases of cancer. \u00a0Now get this\u2014treatment for all preventable diseases will increase by $48 billion to $65 billion per year by 2030.<\/p>\n

So now we fully understand the problem and the terrible consequences of not reversing this trend. \u00a0Nevertheless, instead of assuming responsibility for ourselves and taking concrete steps to make permanent changes, we still search for some easy way out. \u00a0Taking a pill to lose weight would certainly be the easiest solution, but every weight loss pill to date has ended up with side effects so pronounced that they had to be pulled from the market. Out of desperation, we look for something invasive, such as bariatric surgery or gastric banding. \u00a0Even that, however, is showing mixed results.<\/p>\n

A new study done in Europe has questioned the long-term effectiveness of the Lap banding device, finding that many patients suffered major complications and half of them eventually had the device removed. The report, published in the Archives of Surgery<\/em>, focused on 82 surgeries performed between 1994 and 1997. Even though patients reported losing significant weight, complications such as band erosion and infections led researchers to conclude the surgery had “relatively poor long-term outcomes.”<\/p>\n

Four patients have died within the last two years following Lap band surgeries performed in Southern California, prompting medical malpractice lawsuits and investigations by the Medical Board of California. None of the patients involved in the European study died as a result of the surgeries. But 32 of 82 reported major complications, and 49 of them had additional surgeries, either to correct problems or because of a lack of weight loss.<\/p>\n

What are the possible complications of the banding?<\/p>\n