A look at the lap band complications

Laparoscopic Gastric banding is shortly and popularly called as the Lap band surgery. It is one of the several types of Bariatric surgeries done to control severe obesity. This surgery is considered as the least invasive laparoscopic procedure and doesn’t involve any kind of cutting or stapling. In this procedure, a silicone band is inserted and applied around the uppermost portion of the stomach. The silicone band is completely adjustable. The constriction of the stomach can be determined by the injection of the saline into the expandable ring. This restricts the food intake.

Some of the risks of lap band surgery are:

• Bleeding
• Blood clots in the legs that may travel up to the lungs
• Perforation of the stomach or esophagus during the surgery
• Spleen or liver damage
• Erosion of the band into the lining of the stomach
• Nausea, vomiting, acid reflux
• Heartburns
• Stomach ulcer
• Problems while swallowing of the food
• Dehydration
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Weight regain

It is always a good idea to know about the risks of the surgery that you are going to have before taking the plunge. The major risks of gastric band surgery are:

• The biggest risk of any surgery like gastric bypass, lap band, gastric sleeve plication etc. is the risk of infection. The types of infections that are possible in the case of the lap band surgery are:
         1. Infection of the surgical wounds
         2. Abdominal infection
         3. Port infection
• Malignant Hyperthermia: In this, there is an uncontrolled rise in the body temperature of the patient. It’s a kind of allergy due to the medications.
• The band when inflated squeezes the stomach to create the desired diameter of the opening for the food to pass. It’s normal for some level of swelling to occur but sometimes, there may be excessive swelling which may create a blockage of the stomach and the food may be completely unable to pass.

Understanding the facts about gastric sleeve plication

Gastric plication doesn't attenuate the absorption of nutrients or bypass your intestines. The patient has to still take vitamins or minerals after the surgery because the patient won’t be taking the amount as he used to, and this may end in a shortage of necessary nutrients. The patient should discuss this together with his doctor before his surgery, and develop an observation plan so that he can catch any deficiencies early, do they occur.

Gastric plication involves stitching one or more giant folds in your abdomen. Stitches are placed within the abdomen to secure the rolled abdomen wall. This reduces the abdomen volume by as much as seventy percent. As a result, the abdomen now holds the amount of food that it is accustomed to. The patient will feel fuller sooner, and this leads to weight loss.

The results of any bariatric surgery are the most effective when combined with proper diet. Same goes for the gastric sleeve placation. Some of the necessary dietary guidelines for the sleeve gastrectomy surgery to be successful are:

1. Like gastric bypass, in this surgery also, chewing properly and having small amounts of food is the key to make your surgery effective. Take minimum of 20 minutes to consume one meal. Also, remember chewing on every bite 27 times before consuming it in, will help the stomach to digest it more quickly. Avoid foods that are chewy or hard as they can get stuck in the stomach and may cause problems. Also, try to eat in small amounts. Remember the size of your stomach has decreased and it needs much lesser food to fill up. So, the less you eat, the better.

2. Also, make sure that you get proper quantity of vitamins in the food. If the vitamins are not supplied by your diet, get them from shakes and supplements. They are needed by the body to protect from further ailments and diseases. This should be taken care of in other surgeries like lap band also.

A brief study of Gastric Bypass

In the gastric bypass surgery, surgical changes are made in the stomach and the digestive system that limits how much food you can eat and how many nutrients you absorb, leading to weight loss. Patients typically lose more than 50% of their excess weight after Bariatric surgery. Obesity-related diseases markedly improve after gastric bypass surgery, reducing cardiovascular risk and improving life expectancy.

Positives

Not only do patients lose weight and keep it off, now there are convincing data that many patients are cured of type 2 diabetes. In fact, the procedure may pay for itself within a few years by reducing medical costs due to obesity-related illness.

While it may sound appealing, gastric bypass isn't for everyone. Like any major procedure, it has significant health risks and side effects. In addition, the long-term success of gastric bypass surgery depends on your ability to make permanent changes in your lifestyle. When you want to be considered for gastric bypass surgery, you must undergo a thorough evaluation to determine if it's suitable for your situation.

Negatives

Apart from the immediate risks of complications associated with a major surgery, you put yourself at risk of a clutch of problems: osteoporosis, anemia and other nutritional deficiencies, bowel obstruction, gallstones, hernia, ulcers, stomach perforation, and/or gastric dumping syndrome, characterized by the frequent diarrhea and vomiting.

And then there's still more - depression, alcoholism and suicide.

Some of the complications of gastric bypass are:

1. Bleeding

Unlike gastric sleeve plication and gastric band, bleeding complications occur in fewer than 4% of patients. Postoperative bleeding can be from mesenteric or omental vessels within the peritoneal cavity or from staple line.

2. Anastomotic leak

Anastomotic leak is a dreaded complication of gastric bypass and carries a mortality rate of up to 30% when it occurs. The incidence after gastric bypass ranges from 0% to 4.4%.Leakage from the gastrojejunal anastomosis can be contained or can result in diffuse peritonitis. Technical failures of the anastomosis manifest in the early postoperative period with rapid clinical deterioration, but most leaks occur around 5 days after surgery and result from perforation of an ischemic area at the anastomosis.

3. Wound infection

Wound infection after gastric bypass occurs in fewer than 5% of cases in most series. And it can be easily managed with a course of antibiotics.

4. Thromboembolism

Obesity is a risk factor for venous thromboembolism in general surgery patients. The higher the BMI, the higher the risk of venous thromboembolism in patients undergoing abdominal operations, even with low-dose heparin prophylaxis and obesity is an independent predictor of recurrent venous thromboembolism.