What one should know about the term ?LAP-BAND?

Hello everybody,

I hope I am allowed within forum rules to take this opportunity to introduce myself and what I do, as my position tells a lot about the veracity and importance of the information that I would like to share. I am Bom Chan and I am the Head of Obesity Solutions of the BIB & LAP-BAND CENTER (Kosher and after I exhausted all means by having asked all our contact persons in Allergan Health and nobody seemed to have the information, I decided to post a question in lapbandtalk and I was very happy and thankful to get a lot of replies from the Jewish community in the States.

The basic thing that everyone needs to know about the word "LAP-BAND" is that Lap-Band is a registered trademark of Allergan Health (formerly INAMED Health), which is a division of Allergan Incorporated. The Lap-Band comes in the following sizes/style namely 9.75cm, 10cm, 11cm, VG, APS and APL. In the Philippines, we use the APS and APL. Allergan is a global company that manufactures Botox and products for ophthalmology, facial aesthetics, breast augmentation and reconstruction. Inamed Corporation was acquired by Allergan Incorporated a couple of years ago.

Why is the Lap-Band considered superior to other adjustable gastric bandings? The reason for this are: it was approved by the U.S. FDA in 2001 and was named as "One of the Significant Device Breakthroughs" by the FDA Office of Device Evaluation. To date, more than 600,000 Lap-Band procedures were performed and the Lap-Band is supported by more than 1,600 scientific studies. In the scientific studies published in medical journals, the term "LAGB" is used to refer to the Lap-Band® Adjustable Gastric Banding as different from other bands like the SAGB which refers to the Swedish Adjustable Gastric Banding.

In many parts of the world, there exist unethical medical practitioners who intentionally deceive their patients by referring to LAGB as "laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding". They sometimes use the data of the Lap-Band or what they like to call "LAGB" as a safer alternative to other bariatric procedures like the gastric bypass. They even sometimes use Lap-Band brochures to entice patients to undergo the procedure. When the patient is convinced that LAGB is the way to go, they undergo surgery and the unscrupulous bariatric surgeon places a different brand of gastric banding.

Over the past years, there were a number of international patients who tried to contact me to get information on doctors in the Philippines who could perform their "fills". According to them they need their "Lap-Band" to be adjusted. When our bariatric surgeon, Dr. Edward Oliveros, tried to view the orientation of the access port by fluoroscope, he was astonished to see that there were 3 patients who had a different kind of gastric band access port. After the fills, he asked the patients whether they were sure that they had the "Lap-Band" as in the original "LAP-BAND SYSTEM", sadly, they said "yes". Those 3 patients had fallen victim to unscrupulous doctors who use the word "lapband" or "lapbanding" as generic terms, while the correct generic term for such a procedure is either "gastric banding" or "adjustable gastric banding".

This is the reason why we get some complaints from foreign patients telling us that how come the price of Lap-Band surgery in the Philippines is not as low as in other countries. Sometimes I just reply by saying that I do not have any idea how a Lap-Band surgery can go so low in a certain country when 50% of their published price is already the cost of the Lap-Band device. The big question is: How about the professional fees of the surgeon, his assistant, the anaesthesiologist, the cost of anaesthesia, the operating room fee, the private room where the patient stays after the procedure and other charges? Don't all of these count in the package price?

I believe that honesty should be the Number 1 with any medical practitioner. To tell the truth, to be transparent as to say not only what the patients like to hear but also the honest facts. Like in many countries except for the United States, the BIB (BioEnterics Intragastric Balloon) System or what they call the Orbera System in Australia has been quite a popular alternative to weight loss because of its non-surgical nature involving placement of a saline-filled balloon in the stomach endoscopically for six months to reduce hunger. In some parts of the world, unethical individuals try to deceive the public by calling an intragastric balloon of a Brazilian company the "Brazilian intragastric balloon" or "also a bib" to piggyback on the popularity of the BIB System.

On an ending note to all patients, believe that it is your right to ask questions and to get polite answers from your bariatic surgeons because at the end of the day, it is your health, your financial resources, and your happiness that matters. You are the patient and we should all be serving you. Wishing you all the best of health.

Thank you for reading.

Warm regards,

Bom