Additional Research
According to the World Health Organization, laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (LAGB) has been used in more than 300,000 procedures worldwide, this simple medical device has safely helped many overweight individuals successfully achieve and maintain significant long-term weight loss to reduce the health risks associated with obesity.
There have been several studies proving the effectiveness of LAGB. As popularly reported in USA Today, in 2006, Dr. Paul O’Brien conducted a study to determine the effectiveness of LAGB and found that surgical treatment using laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding was statistically more effective than non-surgical therapy in reducing weight, resolving the metabolic syndrome, and improving quality of life during a 24-month treatment program. See: Dr. Paul O’Brien, Treatment of Mild to Moderate Obesity with LAGB (Annals of Internal Medicine, 2006).
This research has shown that the gastric band works better than a 500-calorie diet. Dr. O’Brien’s research team at Monash University Medical School in Melbourne, Australia, recruited 80 patients who were on average 52 pounds over a healthy weight. Half had the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band surgery. The other half followed a medical program that included a variety of strategies such as a very-low-calorie diet (500 calories a day) with liquid meal replacements, prescription weight-loss medication and behavioural therapies.
After six months, both the surgery patients and the low-calorie dieters lost an average of 14% of their starting weight. After two years, the gastric band patients lost 22% of their starting weight. That was about 87% of their excess weight, or roughly 45 pounds. They also showed marked improvement in their health and quality of life.
At the end of two years, the dieters had regained much of their lost weight but were still 5.5% below their starting weight. They had lost 22% of their excess weight, or about 12 pounds.
"I’m very happy that the gastric band patients are continuing to maintain their weight loss," says lead author Dr. Paul O’Brien, director of the university’s Centre for Obesity Research and Education. Since the study, he received grants from INAMED Health, maker of the LAP-BAND System.
