Laparoscopic Banding is Helpful for Overweight Adolescents

October 11, 2007 by
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Helps the Adolescents Lose Weight and Improve Many Other Health Issues

One of the biggest complaints you hear on the streets today and in the news is the level of physical fitness of American children today. More specifically, the lack of physical fitness. There is hope for obese adolescents though for help with their health problems. A team of
Laparoscopic Banding is Helpful for Overweight Adolescents
surgeons headed by Evan Nadler of the New York University School of Medicine have found that laparoscopic banding of the stomach can assist teens that are considered morbidly obese. This information was released in a recent press release from the American College of Surgeons.

Laparascopic adjustable gastric band procedures, better known as laproscopic banding is an alternative to the more controversial gastric bypass procedure. It is also considered to be safer. In the press release Dr. Nadler reveals that the mortality rate for laparoscopic band procedures is 20 percent lower than the mortality rate for gastric-bypass procedures. The surgery for this procedure has a limited invasiveness to it's nature. The surgeons use a tiny camera to help guide them which they insert into the body through a small abdominal incision. A band is then put around the stomach to tighten and results in the patients feeling full. As the stomach becomes looser, there is a balloon attached to the band which the surgeons can access through a port to continue the feeling of fullness.

The children in the test group were all in the age range of 14 to 17 years old and considered extremely overweight. This was based on the teens having a body mass index of at least 35 with one weight related illness or a body mass index of 40 or above. It was found that after the laparscopic banding procedure these teenagers lost close to 50 percent of their excess weight.

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Related information
Takeaways
  • Dr. Evan Nadler of the New York University School of Medicine led the team of surgeons research.
  • Laparoscopic banding has a mortality rate of 20 times less that of gastric bypass surgery.
  • There was a 70% improvement in the weight related illnesses of the 14 teenagers 1 year after surgery
 
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The surgery is only performed if the patient is proven to not be addicted to food - addiction being a disease, not a lack of willpower - and fully committed to a lifestyle change. Do you really think anyone who is overweight is "afraid of the hard work" of becoming healthy? I will tell you what we are afraid of: diabetes, high cholesterol, not being able to walk or run, bad joints, and further surgery to correct whatever our weight messed up for us.
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Posted on 10/26/2008 at 7:10:52 AM

Lynne, I would like to address your comment. First of all, have you ever been overweight? I am going to say no. If you had, you would know it's not about how much you exercise or eat right once you're already overweight. You could be at the gym all day long, and not see a single improvement. Not to mention, to go to the gym as a fat person is an entirely different experience. Assuming you are a healthy weight, I'll ask you to imagine going for a jog with a 100-lbs backpack on, or biking, or swimming. It is basically impossible. I have to deal with every activity in this way. Exercise and eating well are great for staying at whatever weight you already are, but are no good for losing weight, especially if you have 100 pounds or more to lose. And this surgery is by far not the easy way out - it comes with an entire lifestyle change. In addition to the surgery, the child, or any recipient, needs to learn healthy eating and exercise habits to avoid gaining the weight back. The
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Posted on 10/26/2008 at 7:10:55 AM

I have to agree with the others who have said that they are not in agreement with this procedure being used on children/teens. There have to be better ways of helping obese kids to lose weight and develop healthy eating habits for life. This is a major issue in western society as a whole - not just the USA - and it urgently needs to be addressed with a lot of serious thought. Kids and parents need genuine empathetic support and education, not major surgical procedures. One of the serious issues of this kind of surgery is that in a large number of cases those who undergo them will develop other addictions in place of their food addiction. That fact in itself illustrates the need to deal with obesity by gradual overall lifestyle changes.
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Posted on 11/29/2007 at 5:11:00 AM

While it's a good way to shed pounds quickly when dealing with weight-related health issues, I'm totally with A. Kairi on this one. If a child gets this band it just means the child and especially the parents are just afraid of the hard work of losing weight. They will learn nothing about proper nutrition or self-control for when the band is removed. If I had a morbidly obese child I would take that surgery money and spend it on multiple fat camp sessions. It would be a fun and educational way to lose weight.
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Posted on 10/12/2007 at 10:10:00 AM

oh btw, good article!
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Posted on 10/11/2007 at 4:10:00 PM

I'm not a fan of this procedure at all, unless the child suffers from a condition that makes them feel more hungry than they should. or a metabolic condition that forces them to only eat very little or else gain weight. Otherwise what most of these kids need is better nutrition, more exercise, and possibly therapy if they are using eating as a way of coping with stress. Even getting used to eating a healthy amount isn't going to help them later when the band is removed if they are eating to relieve stress. it also won't correct malnutrition problems caused by eating too much junk rather than healthy foods.
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Posted on 10/11/2007 at 4:10:00 PM

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