For God's sake, researchers!!!!!!

well I never understand the whole insurance thing...but you were approved once before...I can't imagine they wouldn't .

damn...they made you wait a whole year?

 No, no. But it makes me crazy when statistics quoted about the band (or ANYthing, for that matter) are based on such a minute sample of the population.

PS: love that DM quote in your sig!

I just meet with a nurse that had the band 8 years ago and she looks great she is a rep for the lapband now and has  all kinds of success story's I'm so glad i got the band when i talk to people like her

Thanks for the post. YOu said it perfectly. I have friends in Europe where they do (or have done in the past) the band almost exclusively and they have thousands of post op banders with successs stories to tell. They've been doing it there for years and have lots of data to back up their claims and research. We must have some here too showing long term from both sides-successful and those that had to have it removed for one reason or another.
Thanks again-
Jen 9 yrs post op

Here are studies of THOUSANDS! For band longevity/re-ops - not for weight loss.

Please note (as my doc pointed out) that the first set all deal with bands implanted using the older perigastric technique which had a HIGHER complication rate than the pars flaccida which is now used. I do not know the country of origin of the studies, neither have I read them myself. I was given a warning that the journal in which they appear is strictly copyright and so I am not publishing that on the net! But if anyone wants to know, PM me.  I am not clear on copyright law and don't want to fall foul of it!

Clearly the results are not consistent!

                     patients     over time     port/tubing probs   slips/dilation    erosion   re-ops

Favrotti           1791           12 years           11.2%                   3.9%               0.9%        5.9%
Vertuyen         543              7                         2.9                       4.6                   0.9            6.8
Weiner            984              8                         2.5                       4.5                   0.3            3.9
O'Brien           709              6                          3.6                    12.5                   2.8           18.9
Chevalier      1000            7                          5.7                     10.4                  0.3             11.0
Zehetner         190             6                         2.6                       2.6                   2.1             8.5
Zinzindohoue  500           3                          7.8                       8.6                     0              10.4
Tolonen            280           7                          10.6                     6.5                   3.3            24.4
Miceletto           684           5                          6.8                        6.1                    1.0            6.3
Dargent           1180           7                         none stated       8.8                     1.8           12.7

The following are shorter term studies all using the more modern pars flaccida technique.

Ponce            1014             4                         1.2                        2.3                    0.2         8 removed
parikh              749              3                         2.4                        2.9                   0.1           10.7
Holloway          500             3                        9.2                        5.0                   1.0           not stated
Watkins          2411            3                         2.3                        5.1                   0.1              8
Singhal           1140            3                        0.35                      0.26                  0.09        2.1     

Kate  

It's hard to get patients to participate in studies. I was enrolled in a WLS study at Johns Hopkins that included the 4 major procedure types (band, RNY, DS, and VSG). I participated for more than a year, and the study had started long before my surgery was performed. The study ended up being stopped, and I believe much of the reason was due to lack of participants. The nurses and docs running the study said they had the hardest time getting band patients and VSG patients to enroll. In general, folks on this forum are NO the norm - the more typical WLS patients know very little about their procedure and don't care much about research, just about getting thinner. I met one woman who was doing her pre-op workup for the study, and I asked her what procedure she was having. She responded, "Oh, you know, that Y one." Our conversation ended there. My brain hurt. And we were at Johns Hopkins, so not some little hole in the wall facility in the middle of nowhere.

Also, some of the tests they had to run for the study were NOT fun. Some made me nauseous, some made me lightheaded, some were uncomfortable or downright painful...so it depends on what kind of data they are trying to collect. I had to take time away from work to be in the lab in order to participate. And that study STILL wouldn't have answered any questions about vitamins/minerals, soda, caffeine, or any of the other many questions we see frequently.

Well, then they need to design their studies in ways that make it more convenient and worthwhile for people to participate!

Bette,
  I am having research done on the long term nutritional problems of DS patients as we speak, at one of the leading medical universities here. If you have something specific that you would like researched, write it up as a short letter and I will submit it to the University. Students studying for advanced degrees are always looking for new subjects in the medical field to do a study on.    

How interesting that you are so high placed so as to influence medical studies. Would this be at the University of Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne or Zurich? Would you be using the patients of Dr. Weiner, Sonneville, Baltasar or Himpens as they are the closest DS surgeons to Switzerland? But then you would have to get them from all across Europe to go to Switzerland which might be inconvenient for some. Hrm. Seems like quite a task.

I would wonder why you wouldn't also research the long-term nutritional issues of the RNY, as there are many areas that would crossover. Plus you would be able to have a longer long-term result study done because the DS is only 20-ish years old compared to the much older RNY.

Let me know when I should get my reversal, okay?