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by: DonaldSaunders
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Obesity surgery has advanced considerably in the past few years and modern forms of surgery such as gastric lap banding are unquestionably a lot safer and carry many fewer complications than early forms of open gastric bypass surgery. Nevertheless, there are still risks and they need to be discussed with your surgeon before having surgery.

Gastric lap band surgery has several risks that are specific to this form of surgery and also has the same risks which come will any major surgery. Additionally, there are some general risks that are seen with any surgery involving patients who are overweight.

The first and most serious risk is that of death occurring either during surgery or immediately following and directly related to surgery. At this early stage (gastric lap band surgery has been around for approximately 13 years now and has only been licensed for use in the United States since 2001) there have been very few deaths reported and it is not easy to give a figure, though it is generally held that the risk of death from gastric lap band surgery is less than 1%.

It is interesting to note that in one study in Australia no deaths were reported amongst a group of some 2,700 patients who have had laparoscopic adjustable gastric band surgery since 1994. It should be noted however that Australia has been in the forefront of opening up the use of the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band and that over ninety percent of all weight loss surgeries undertaken in Australia now employ this method. This is significant as, when you interpret the data from this particular study, you have to bear in mind that the experience of the surgeon is a major factor in terms of both complication and risk. Surgeons with extensive experience with this technique demonstrate a far higher rate of success.

Many of the risks encountered during the course of surgery are general rather than lap band specific and are common risks to do with such things as your age, weight, reaction to anesthetic and the existence of disease (whether such disease is or is not directly associated with your weight problem). The chief lap band specific risk during the course of surgery is that of gastric perforation (a tear occurring in the wall of the stomach) which occurs in about 1% of all cases.

By far and away the majority of complications occur after surgery and the majority of patients will experience some form of complication in the weeks and months after their operation. These complications will not necessarily be serious and will range from very mild to quite severe.

Around half of all patients will suffer varying degrees of nausea and vomiting and in the region of one-third of patients will also suffer from regurgitation (gastroesophageal reflux). Roughly a quarter of patients will suffer band slippage and roughly one patient in seven will suffer a blockage of the passage between the two parts of the stomach.

Other mild to severe problems following gastric lap band surgery can include the erosion of the band into the wall of the stomach and leakage or twisting of the access port. Difficulty in swallowing, diarrhea and constipation are also quite common.

In a very small number of patients (less than 1%) a whole series of non-serious problems can arise including gastritis, migration of the stomach above the diaphragm, pancreatitis, dehydration, abdominal pain, gas, chest pain and infection.

In general lap banding, particularly when it is carried out laparoscopically, carries fewer risks and complications than other forms of weight loss surgery, but these risks are still significant and need to be fully discussed with your surgeon and fully understood before you take any decision to undergo surgery.