AUBURN - Erasing 25 percent of your body is not a procedure to be taken lightly, no matter how eager you are to wave goodbye to that weight.
Image provided by Dr. Carol Weiss III
For more about the LAP-BAND procedure and Auburn Memorial Hospital's Fingerlakes Weight Loss Program, call 255-7544 or visit www.fingerlakes- weightloss.com
For more about the LAP-BAND procedure and Auburn Memorial Hospital's Fingerlakes Weight Loss Program, call 255-7544 or visit www.fingerlakes- weightloss.com
At Auburn Memorial Hospital, the sole surgical means of making that body mass disappear has been gastric bypass surgery, in which staples partition a small pouch in the upper stomach that redirects food along a shortened gastrointestinal tract.
But the hospital's Fingerlakes Weight Loss Program will soon add an adjustable gastric band procedure to its surgical palette.
“It's a patient-driven decision, they've been asking about it all the time and we have an obligation to provide it as part of the spectrum of surgical intervention,” said bariatric surgeon Dr. Carl Weiss III, who is currently in Atlanta with staff learning how to perform the operation.
The LAP-BAND device consists of an inflatable collar fitted over the stomach near its top to create a pouch. Inside that collar is a saline port, and the surgeon can adjust the amount of fluid it holds - and, as a result, the collar's strength of constriction - through a tube implanted along the patient's abdominal wall. The stomach wall is then sewn over the apparatus.
Like gastric bypass surgery, the procedure aids patients aiming to lose weight by quickening the sensation of fullness and limiting them to smaller portions of food.
However, the LAP-BAND surgery differs from gastric bypass operations in several key ways. It does not involve intestinal re-routing and is not as invasive as bypass surgery.
The LAP-BAND operation requires a 23-hour stay in the hospital and can be performed as an outpatient procedure in select cases. Bypass surgery is typically a two-day procedure. Another key distinction between the two operations is permanence. The LAP-BAND surgery is reversible, while gastric bypass surgery is not.
Weiss presented the facts on the hospital's newest option for bariatric surgery to an audience inside the building's auditorium Wednesday.
He noted that the LAP-BAND procedure does not produce as steep a loss of weight as gastric bypass surgery. The latter operation can cause a loss of about 100 pounds over the course of the first year following it, while patients with the band lose between 30 and 50 pounds in that time frame.
The LAP-BAND's saline collar also requires adjustments every few months. Ten percent of patients report requiring additional surgery to spur their weight loss. Like gastric bypass surgery, it is subject to potential complications, such as perforation of the stomach, vomiting and heart burn.
Throughout the presentation, Weiss emphasized the strongest similarity between the two procedures: the significance of patient compliance. Surgical weight loss intervention is an efficient solution for the 97 percent of morbidly obese people who do not find success losing weight with diets. However, it does not work on its own.
Both the band and bypass surgery give patients a forceful boost to shed pounds by sticking to a proper diet, regular exercise and counseling sessions through the Fingerlakes Weight Loss Program.
“If you forget about your behavior, it probably won't be an effective intervention,” Weiss said. “The tragedy of it all is if you go back to your old ways.”
Each operation is preceded by two to four months of preparation, during which patients are asked to lose as much weight through diet and exercise as they possibly can. The loss serves two purposes: it de-fats the liver, which eases the operation for the surgeon, and it also strengthens the patient's commitment to the lifestyle change such surgeries demand.
While Weiss is excited to offer the LAP-BAND surgical option to the community, he does not recommend one form of surgical intervention for weight loss over the other.
“It's very much about patient preference, whatever they want,” he said.
To learn more
For more about the LAP-BAND procedure and Auburn Memorial Hospital's Fingerlakes Weight Loss Program, call
255-7544 or visit www.fingerlakes- weightloss.com
But the hospital's Fingerlakes Weight Loss Program will soon add an adjustable gastric band procedure to its surgical palette.
“It's a patient-driven decision, they've been asking about it all the time and we have an obligation to provide it as part of the spectrum of surgical intervention,” said bariatric surgeon Dr. Carl Weiss III, who is currently in Atlanta with staff learning how to perform the operation.
The LAP-BAND device consists of an inflatable collar fitted over the stomach near its top to create a pouch. Inside that collar is a saline port, and the surgeon can adjust the amount of fluid it holds - and, as a result, the collar's strength of constriction - through a tube implanted along the patient's abdominal wall. The stomach wall is then sewn over the apparatus.
Like gastric bypass surgery, the procedure aids patients aiming to lose weight by quickening the sensation of fullness and limiting them to smaller portions of food.
However, the LAP-BAND surgery differs from gastric bypass operations in several key ways. It does not involve intestinal re-routing and is not as invasive as bypass surgery.
The LAP-BAND operation requires a 23-hour stay in the hospital and can be performed as an outpatient procedure in select cases. Bypass surgery is typically a two-day procedure. Another key distinction between the two operations is permanence. The LAP-BAND surgery is reversible, while gastric bypass surgery is not.
Weiss presented the facts on the hospital's newest option for bariatric surgery to an audience inside the building's auditorium Wednesday.
He noted that the LAP-BAND procedure does not produce as steep a loss of weight as gastric bypass surgery. The latter operation can cause a loss of about 100 pounds over the course of the first year following it, while patients with the band lose between 30 and 50 pounds in that time frame.
The LAP-BAND's saline collar also requires adjustments every few months. Ten percent of patients report requiring additional surgery to spur their weight loss. Like gastric bypass surgery, it is subject to potential complications, such as perforation of the stomach, vomiting and heart burn.
Throughout the presentation, Weiss emphasized the strongest similarity between the two procedures: the significance of patient compliance. Surgical weight loss intervention is an efficient solution for the 97 percent of morbidly obese people who do not find success losing weight with diets. However, it does not work on its own.
Both the band and bypass surgery give patients a forceful boost to shed pounds by sticking to a proper diet, regular exercise and counseling sessions through the Fingerlakes Weight Loss Program.
“If you forget about your behavior, it probably won't be an effective intervention,” Weiss said. “The tragedy of it all is if you go back to your old ways.”
Each operation is preceded by two to four months of preparation, during which patients are asked to lose as much weight through diet and exercise as they possibly can. The loss serves two purposes: it de-fats the liver, which eases the operation for the surgeon, and it also strengthens the patient's commitment to the lifestyle change such surgeries demand.
While Weiss is excited to offer the LAP-BAND surgical option to the community, he does not recommend one form of surgical intervention for weight loss over the other.
“It's very much about patient preference, whatever they want,” he said.
To learn more
For more about the LAP-BAND procedure and Auburn Memorial Hospital's Fingerlakes Weight Loss Program, call
255-7544 or visit www.fingerlakes- weightloss.com
