Outcomes after LAP-BAND® Surgery

Read below about patient outcomes (including our outcomes) after LAP-BAND® Surgery – complications, impact of surgery on medical conditions (such as diabetes and high blood pressure), and impact of surgery on lifespan.

Complications After LAP-BAND® Surgery
A major benefit of LAP-BAND® Surgery is its safety. However, as with any surgery, there is the potential for complications to occur. As you can see from the table below, our complication rates are lower than the rates published in other good studies.

Complications	Our Results (>600 patients)	Good Studies
Death	0	0.05%
Pulmonary Embolism	0.2%	0.2%
Band Erosion	0	up to 1%
Band Slippage	1%	1-4%
Port Complication	1%	1-4%
Band Removal	2%	up to 4%

The results reported in the right column above were taken from published studies done by experienced laparoscopic bariatric surgeons with low complication rates. Remember - less experienced surgeons may have much higher complication rates. In general, good studies report overall complication rates after LAP-BAND® surgery to be about 10%. The not-such-good studies report complication rates after LAP-BAND® surgery to be as high as 30%.

Impact of LAP-BAND® Surgery on Medical Problems
Many medical problems are associated with weight. Examples include diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, joint pain and arthritis, heartburn, asthma, depression, infertility, urinary stress incontinence, lower extremity swelling and headaches. Published studies show that all tend to either resolve or improve after LAP-BAND® Adjustable Gastric Banding surgery (see table below).

Medical Problem	Resolved or Improved
Diabetes	80-100%
Hypertension	45-100%
Sleep Apnea	80-100%
Joint/Back Pain	72-100%
Hyperlipidemia	67-81%
GERD	90%
Asthma	100%
Depression	83%

Impact of Weight Loss Surgery on Lifespan
There have been multiple published studies (including the highly regarded Swedish Obesity Study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in August 2007) showing decreased mortality (by approximately 35%) in patients who have undergone weight loss surgery compared to patients who have not undergone surgery. This is because potentially life threatening medical problems (such as diabetes, high cholesterol, sleep apnea and high blood pressure) tend to resolve or improve with weight loss after surgery.

Learn More about LAP-BAND® Surgery!
To learn more we encourage you to attend a free, no-obligation informational seminar with Dr. Oliak - call our Orange County office at 714-582-2530 or send us an inquiry form today!