Tuesday 24 December 2013

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.

No comments:

Post a Comment