Two years of practice in adjustable silicone gastric banding (LAP-BAND): evaluation of variations of body mass index, percentage ideal body weight and percentage excess body weight.
BACKGROUND
In the treatment of morbid obesity, surgery had been the only method of obtaining a good and enduring weight loss. Although the procedure of choice is still a matter of debate, among gastric restriction procedures LAP-BAND has become our first choice.


METHODS
We report the results from 62 morbidly obese patients operated in the period October 1994-December 1996. Their characteristics were: mean age 35.6 years, mean body weight 130.6 kg, mean height 162.3 cm, mean body mass index (BMI) 49.9 kg/m2, mean percentage ideal body weight (%IBW) 215.7 and mean excess weight (EW) 69.57 kg.


RESULTS
Twenty-four months after surgery we found a mean BMI of 39.3, a mean %IBW of 168.6 and a mean % EW loss of 88.5. We removed the band in two patients: one after 9 months because of stoma stenosis and pouch enlargement in a woman who had been lost at follow-up, and the other for gastric slippage occurring after 18 months due to incorrect fixation of the band.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results led us to consider LAP-BAND as the surgical approach for severe obesity among those patients selected for gastric restriction; indeed, it was very safe as well as effective and was rarely followed by complications.
Forestieri
P
P
University Federico II of Naples, Department of General and Oncological Surgery, Italy.
Meucci
L
L
De Luca
M
M
Formato
A
A
De Werra
C
C
Chiacchio
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015391:Gastroplasty / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000601:surgery*; D012086:Reoperation