LAPBAND^® surgery—a weight loss option

The Laparoscopic Band or LAP-BAND^® System is a minimally-invasive, safe, adjustable, and reversible surgical weight loss (bariatric) tool. Placed around the upper part of the stomach, the lapband acts as a belt, slowing the passage of food through the digestive sys-tem. This slowing in the digestive process allows you to feel full sooner, aiding weight loss by both restricting the quantity of food digested at one time, and creating mental stimulants that tell your body when to stop eating.

While the quantity of food consumed is still under the control of the individual, the lapband is intended to gradually adjust your body to a new pattern of eating, expanding or contracting around the upper part of the stomach, regulating the flow of food. The band is connected by tubing to an access port that is placed just beneath the skin during surgery. Later the surgeon can change the amount of constriction by adding or subtracting saline through the access port. This saline is the “key” that adjusts the size of the band. If a band is too loose and weight loss inadequate, adding saline constricts the band to further restrict the amount of food allowed to move through the digestive system. On the other hand, if the band is too tight, saline can be removed to reduce the amount of restriction.

The lapband is a unique procedure implementing minimally-invasive laparoscopic methods, which means reduced pain, length of hospital stay, and recovery period. Cuyuna Regional Medical Center’s Minnesota Institute for Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIMIS) is home to twelve surgeons trained to perform more than one-hundred different types of minimally invasive procedures. Using cameras, scopes, and small-diameter surgical tools, these procedures eliminate the need to make major incisions, lower the risk of infection, and lead to faster recovery for patients, among many other health benefits. At the MIMIS on the medical campus in Crosby, more than seventy percent of all procedures are performed using minimally invasive techniques. The lapband is one such procedure.