Your "Weight" Is Over
Saint Vincent Health System is now offering a safe and effective surgical weight loss option for obese adult patients who have repeatedly failed more conservative weight reduction alternatives, such as supervised diet, drugs, exercise, and behavior-modification programs. This new option is the LAP-BAND Adjustable Gastric Banding System.
The procedure is offered as part of a multidisciplinary approach to the evaluation and management of bariatric patients. All patients must participate in pre-surgical workup that will typically include multiple medical evaluations, dietary evaluation and counseling by a registered dietitian, a psychological evaluation by a mental healthcare provider, and a fitness evaluation by an exercise physiologist. Routine preoperative laboratory and diagnostic tests will be performed including routine blood test, upper GI series, ultrasound of the gallbladder, pulmonary function testing, chest X-ray, and EKG.
The LAP-BAND Adjustable Gastric Banding System is a silicone adjustable band that is placed around the upper portion of the stomach during surgery to restrict the amount of food that can be consumed and to create a longer feeling of satiety without the high risk of nutritional deficiencies associated with gastric bypass. The LAP-BAND System is placed laparoscopically and, unlike gastric bypass and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, does not require cutting or stapling of the stomach or gastrointestinal rerouting to bypass normal digestion. The procedure is safe, minimally invasive, adjustable, and reversible, and offers comparable weight loss to that seen with standard gastric bypass at 36 months and beyond.
The National Institutes of Health requirements for Lap-Band surgery are the same as for any other weight loss surgery. If your BMI, or body mass index, is between 35 and 39, then you must also have associated severe medical problems, or obesity conditions, in order to be a candidate for the Lap-Band. These conditions usually include diabetes, hypertension, or high cholesterol. But if your BMI is greater than 40, then it is not required that there be any associated medical problems.
If you have any questions regarding the LAP-BAND System, please contact the Bariatric Coordinator, Kiersten Brandt at (814) 454-1142 or kbrandt@svhs.org.
Lap Band Information sessions will be held:
The second Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. in the McGarvery Learning Center
The fourth Wednesday of the month at 9 a.m. in the Hardner Building in the lower lever room L 60.
Please contact Kiersten to make reservations for an informational session at the McGarvey Learning Center at Saint Vincent Health Systems.
If you are not sure that lap band procedure is right for you, schedule an appointment with Kiersten and talk about the other options for care including meeting with our dietician, our healthyu coordinator or to speak with one of our psychologists. Weight loss is not always something you can do alone. Let the team at Saint Vincent help you.
Disclaimer. Information regarding the LAP BAND has been provided by ALLERGAN, the producers of LAP BAND. Information about the physicians has been provided by Saint Vincent Health Systems.