Band stats over 12 years and 1000s of people!

Weight loss for bandsters is very much what we make it! As we don't malabsorb and as we can physically eat sugars/fats etc, our loss is very much down to us. This means many of us lose more slowly and it is easier not to lose as much as we want. This is the choice we make when we choose the band!

So the stats below are not about weight loss! They are about safety. Note they are from thousands of bandsters and are over as long as 12 years! This is a re-post.
 
I tried to paste this as a table but the formatting went wrong so the columns don't "fit". 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  




           

I think being morbidly obese and having unresolved metabolic comorbidities is more of a health hazard than malabsorbtion. I was over 400 pounds. I had diabetes, GERD, sleep apnea, hyperlipidemia, and I could barely walk. Do you think the lap band would be a viable option for such a patient.

Probably not! Have I ever said it was? You probably made the right choice for you. I made the right choice for me. So everyone is happy!!

Why on earth do we argue about these non-issues?

Kate

I was just trying to make a point. Like you said, "the best option for me."

The point of surgery wars is to inform patients where their surgeons fail to. Doctors have a profit motive when advising on surgery choice, so it takes crazy folks like myself to make annoying posts to get the facts about surgery out there. It is only after a person is truly educated about all of their options that they can make an informed decision and get the best surgery for them. Unfortunately many people make a surgery decision without having known their options. It is sad when such a person ends up needing revision just because of the ill advise of a greedy surgeon.

In the end, I do not care what surgery people choose. I can't say what will be best for someone else's body. All I care is that the person knew their options.

Yep - seems like we are in agreement!

It is a bit different in the UK as docs don't necessarily have a profit motoive. The private ones do but the NHS ones are salaried. So it may be that we get a better perspective. Although there is so much less wls done over here that we don't really hear of it in the first place!

Kate

 Hi Yehuda, I'm Tami.  We haven't talked before, but I sometimes lurk over on the Main Forum, so I feel like I know you a bit.  I know that even though you've lost a tremendous amount of weight, you've really suffered with the Fobi, and I hope the DS resolves your health issues.  

I think the DS has the best stats for rate of weight loss and long-term maintenance.  However, there are trade-offs that come with that pretty picture, and many people don't want them.  Even in your case, while I think the DS may have been a better choice than the Fobi, you're so young, and have many, many years of lab work to juggle nutrient levels, and truckloads of supplements in your future.  I'm sure you're perfectly fine with that with what you've been through, but other aren't.  

Regardless, as far as I'm concerned you are completely welcome to post about the DS on this forum.  Believe it or not, there are many of us *****gularly tell people to investigate *all* their wls options before making a decision, and that the lap band may not be the best choice for certain individuals under certain cir****tances. 

I do question one statement above, which I've heard before, and that is:

"Doctors have a profit motive when advising on surgery choice."

Do you think that doctors make more money on the band than DS?  The reason I ask is because I personally know a bariatric surgeon (daughter went to school with my daughter) who stopped doing the band because he made more money in the operating room than in the office with band aftercare.  

Tami

 I didn't want to jump into this fray, but I have to respond to your question about the band being "right" for a person with those comorbidities. In my case, the answer was "yes, it was the right choice."

I was in my 40s and headed for congestive heart failure. I had all those medical issues and MORE. I was 376 pounds with a BMI of 54, taking 7 meds a day for those issues.  And yes, *I* could barely walk as well, due to severe edema in my legs and feet. Based on MY needs, the band was the right choice. Based on YOUR needs and hopes, no. But it was right for ME. And it worked beyond my wildest expectations.




I know you say that "surgery wars" (which are just inane and pointless in the first place) are meant to inform preops of all their choices, and that is both intelligent and admirable. But when they degrade into name calling and insults, it serves no purpose but to make some people feel inferior, which we as obese people have really had enough of in our lives. And let's be honest here - when someone goes onto surgical forums with the sole intent of "stirring the hornet's nest", it's not about information, it's about degradation and intimidation. Frankly, it's also egomaniacal and somewhat pathetic, but that's a discussion for another day.

The band may not be the "platinum standard" in WLS, but right now it is the ONLY option available to people who do NOT want their gastrointestinal tract altered, cut, dissected, resected, shortened, removed, edited (whatever). The ONLY one, and that is a big, BIG dealbreaker for some people.

Prior to my surgery, I had decade-long digestive issues (which were, go figure! resolved after I had the band.) The last thing I wanted was any surgery what might exacerbate that, especially permanently. So RNY, sleeve and DS were all off the list.

Does that make me ill informed, less intelligent, gullible to my surgeon's whims, lacking in reading comprehension (as your self-appointed DS leader likes to claim)? No. It makes me the OPPOSITE. It makes me someone who has clearly made the right decision about MY life, MY body and MY weight loss.

Informing preops of all their options is a great idea. It's HOW that idea is presented that is insulting. People who HAVE weighed their options - ALL of them - and made their decision should not be made to feel stupid because they chose a surgery that is not the one someone else approves of. As I said, we've all had a life full of put-downs, and the last thing any of us needs is to experience MORE of it, especially at the hands of those who should know better.

Could not have put it any clearer.

Bette.  Forget about all those crappy jobs you are applying for.  I think you should be a speech writer for the Pres. 

 Damn. I read that sig line too fast. I saw it as:

Remember, if you want to be a 155 pound person, you have to EAT one.  
  

Thanks for this well thought out and well expressed post. You said everything I tried to say yesterday in another inflammatory thread about the Band but was unable to get across.