LAP-BAND
The LAP-Band is the latest New Reflections weight-loss treatment.
The surgery restricts food intake by shrinking the stomach capacity. This is typically a same day or overnight-stay laparoscopic procedure that doesn't involve cutting, removing or rearranging the stomach or small intestine.
A New Reflections physician can usually adjust the rate of weight-loss during a thirty-minute visit following the surgery; it's not necessary to go to the operating room or spend a night in the hospital for the adjustment.
Although the LAP-Band procedure is simpler than traditional gastric bypass surgeries, most patients do not lose as much weight afterwards. Also, the rate of weight-loss is slower than with the Roux-en-Y procedure.
The surgeon makes five or six ΒΌ" incisions in the abdomen.
A slender instrument is used to insert an inflatable silicone band around the top of the stomach.
An access port is implanted under the skin in the abdomen. A slender tube connects the port to the band.
Several weeks after the surgery, the doctor injects sterile salt water into the port.
The saline inflates the band, which narrows the stomach, creating a small food pouch in the top of the stomach and a restricted opening to the bottom of the stomach. Food intake is limited and patients feel full after a few bites.
Saline can be added or removed to shrink or enlarge the food pouch. This can usually be done at the doctor's office or hospital in less than thirty minutes.