| Obesity surgery safely performed
on outpatient basis
By Karla Gale
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters Health) - A "key-hole" type of stomach
surgery called the "Lap-Band" procedure provides good
weight loss and markedly reduces obesity-related illness, investigators
reported this week at a large medical conference. They also found
that the procedure was safe enough to perform on an outpatient basis.
The Lap-Band is an inflatable silicone band placed around the a
portion of the stomach to limit the amount a patient can eat and
slow the emptying of food into the stomach and intestine, Dr. William
Scott Helton told conference attendees.
These findings are important, Helton told reporters, because "the
only way to manage (severe) obesity long-term is surgery."
The Lap-Band procedure costs about one third that of conventional
stomach bypass surgery and poses far less risk of complications.
The technique is also reversible, he said.
Helton's associates performed Lap-Band procedures on 925 obese
patients at the University of Illinois in Chicago and at the Hamilton
Weight Management Center in Dalton, Georgia, between 2001 and 2004.
Except for 30 patients who developed a post-operative blockage,
all went home the same day as surgery, and only one required readmission
after surgery. During 1 year of follow-up, patients lost approximately
42 percent of their excess weight.
Even though surgery to treat severe obesity dramatically reduces
health care costs over the long run, insurance companies are still
reluctant to reimburse for these procedures, Helton told Reuters
Health.
A presentation at the same meeting by Dr. Hadar Spivak reinforced
the value of obesity treatment. Spivak, from Park Plaza Hospital
in Houston, and colleagues have performed Lap Band procedures on
535 patients between 2000 and 2003, one hundred sixty-three of whom
were followed for at least 16 months.
Similar to the other study, patients lost 45 percent of their excess
weight, Spivak said. The operation also had a beneficial effect
on blood pressure, resolved or improved diabetes in several patients,
and reduced acid flow out of the stomach.
The findings were presented at Digestive Disease Week, a medical
conference jointly sponsored by the American Association for the
Study of Liver Diseases, the American Gastroenterological Association,
the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the Society
for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract.
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