Evidence Supporting the Safety and Effectiveness of Lap Band Surgery

The US FDA embraced lap band bariatric surgery, to some extent, by lowering the BMI from 35 to 30 for persons with specific cormorbidities. However, there remain lingering opinions that the FDA should not have have lowered the limits, because lowering the limits will encourage some persons to seek lap band bariatric surgery, when non surgical weight loss approaches would be more appropriate. Further, there are some doubts that lap band surgery is effective, long term. Well, study results recently released, may give some relief to those who doubt the effectiveness of lap band surgery.

The study, abstracted in PubMed, suggests that lap band surgery is both safe and effective. In the study, a single surgeon in a community practice, 442 patients who had received lap band surgery were followed for about five years. The patients in the study had a mean BMI of 47. The results of the study were as follows: “The average percentage of excess weight loss was 27% at 6 months (n = 384), 38% at 12 months (n = 301), 44% at 18 months (n = 260), 48% at 24 months (n = 190), 51% at 36 months (n = 135), 58% at 48 months (n = 66), and 60% at 60 months (n = 31). By 60 months, 10% had failed to lose ≥25% of their excess body weight.”

According to the results, most of the patients receiving the surgery were able to maintain more than 25% of their excess weight loss after five years. There was also a low complication rate. These results are important, since they lend support to the use of the lap band for weight loss.

It's important to note that the researchers emphasize the significance of post-operative support for the weight loss surgical patients, stating that “the results depend heavily on meticulous long-term follow-up.” We believe that bariatric physicians can play an important role in the long-term follow process. Therefore, the expansion of patient access to lap band surgery can broaden the opportunities for bariatric physicians.

(Please leave a comment by clicking on the "COMMENTS" link at the lower right part of this blog post. SUBSCRIBE to this blog by scrolling to the bottom of this page and entering your email address.)

-----------------------------------------------------

Tags: business planning, strategic management, business strategy, environmental scanning