I was floored by something my oldest daughter said to me yesterday. She is 19 and has asked all kinds of questions about me getting banded.

When I told her yesterday I had found another plan that will let me go to a new doctor and be banded she got this look on her face and I said what?

She is scared to death for me to have surgery now! I was floored and asked her why? she said Connie at work was going to have the Lap Band done and another lady says DONT do it - she "knows" 2 people who had it done and died! I said WHAT - no way - she knows them personally? HOW is that possible?

Are the facts straight when they tell the death rates and complications? I know that seems like a stupid question, and all deaths, complications I assume have to be reported.

As with any surgery, there can be complications. I told her the gynecological surgery I had done last year I could have died and was a far more complicated one than this is. Plus I am considered healthy other than being obese and occassional sleep apnea.

I went to Inamed but can't seem to find specific death rates from the surgery itself.

It just says:

You should know that death is one of the risks. It can occur any time during the operation. It can also occur as a result of the operation. Death can occur despite all the precautions that are taken

Anyone have those facts or steer me in the right direction? I want to show her this information.

Detroit woman's death focuses attention on weight-reduction surgery

http://www.boston.com/news/daily/09/obesity.htm<!--font size=4>SUBHEAD

By John Porretto, Associated Press, 09/09/02

DETROIT -- The death of a city councilwoman after weight-reduction surgery has focused attention on a newly available technique in which a noose is tightened around the stomach.

Councilwoman Brenda Scott, who weighed more than 300 pounds, died Sept. 2 from an infection caused by a stomach perforation, three days after surgery at Port Huron Hospital. The medical examiner ruled the death an accident.

Scott, 47, underwent a procedure called Lap-Band Adjustable Gastric Banding, which won approval from the Food and Drug Administration in June 2001. The procedure has been done on nearly 90,000 people in other countries, mostly in Europe, over the past nine years.

The procedure involves placing an adjustable silicone band around the upper part of the stomach, creating a small gastric pouch that limits food consumption and creates an earlier feeling of fullness.

Once in place, the device is inflated with saline and can be tightened or loosened. It is intended to remain in place permanently but can be removed if necessary. Surgeons use keyhole surgery to put it in place.

Other surgical treatments for obesity -- such as stomach stapling and gastric bypass -- are more invasive.

The FDA has said Lap-Banding is intended only for severely obese people -- those who are at least 100 pounds overweight or twice their ideal body weight and have failed to lose weight by diet, exercise and other means.

Doug Trigg, spokesman for INAMED Corp. in Santa Barbara, Calif. -- makers of the Lap-Band device -- said the death rate worldwide has been extremely low -- about 0.005 percent.

Port Huron Hospital, which has performed the procedure more than 80 times since March, had had no major complications before Scott's death, medical director Dr. Kevin Sullivan said Thursday. Sullivan would not comment on Scott's case but said the hospital continues to offer the operation.

The American Society for Bariatric Surgery in Gainesville, Fla., estimates that 63,100 Americans will have stomach-reduction surgery this year. That is up from 23,100 in 1997.

"It used to be considered on the fringes of medicine, and now it's pretty mainstream," said Georgeann Mallory, the association's executive director. "More people know about it. More people have confidence in it."

Mallory said she had no statistics on complications related to Lap-Banding because the procedure is so new in the United States. She said the death rate for gastric bypass is three in every 1,000 patients.

"There's risk associated with any surgery," she said. She added: "Keep in mind that morbid obesity also carries risks."

In clinical trials of Lap-Band, most of the 299 patients -- who also were required to diet and exercise -- steadily lost weight over three years.

Lap-Band patients typically leave the hospital within 24 hours. Scott left Port Huron Hospital on Aug. 31. By the next night, she was complaining of abdominal pain and was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital. She died of peritonitis, an infection of the abdominal lining often caused by a surgical mistake.

Her family has retained attorney Geoffrey Fieger, whose clients have included assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian.

Fieger said two autopsies revealed perforations in Scott's stomach. He said there was no other way the holes could have occurred except in surgery.

"It's a no-brainer," Fieger said.

Jackie Viteri, spokeswoman for the Washington-based American Obesity Association, said she hopes the Scott death does not become an indictment of all weight-reduction operations.

"Each individual case is so different," Viteri said. "There are a lot of options for treatment -- surgery being the most severe. But this shouldn't hinder someone from discussing that option with their surgeon."

<!-- START OF FOOTER -->

I finally found this on www.lapband.com: Under lap band in the news

Dan Cohen, Inamed's vice president of global corporate and government affairs, says the mortality rate for Lap-Band procedures is now less than five-hundredths of a percent--comparable to the risk of dying from a hernia operation.

ASBS estimates one in every 200 patients dies from gastric-bypass surgery. Though that includes patients who suffered from other health problems before the operation, "when you are counseling people about this kind of surgery, it is hard to hear that number," says Whyte, the pediatric surgeon.

"Gastric bypass is a bigger surgery with potentially more hazardous complications, and the patient has to live with that surgery for a long time."

Just my 2 cents.

If your doc or group has a family night or a ask questions night-take your daughter. Its a great idea for her to go with you on your doc appt. but it might be a good idea to have her meet successful banders in person. The first live bander I ever met had her 16 year old daughter with her (a craft show) and her daughter was so proud of her mom. Not only was she proud but she was just as informed as her Mom was about being banded. The both gave me a pep talk. They even asked if I wanted to feel the Mom's port!!!

In response to the question about erosions.. Yes, you could die from an erosion.. Your stomach is very vascular.. If the erosion occured thru and artery you could, in theory, hemorrage to death without immediate medical care. As an Endoscopy nurse I have been called in many times on an emergency basis to help cauterize a bleeding ulcer, which is a deeper erosion. An erosion is likely to cause the same symptoms as an ulcer; pain, nausea, burning in your stomach, and if you vomit blood, even a small amount, or anything that looks like coffee grounds you should seek medical advice immediately. Another clue to bleeding is black, tarry looking stool. I have not heard of having yearly endoscopy done to check for erosion and am not sure that is needed, unless you are symptomatic. The statistics I have seen on erosions say that it is most often not life threatening but could be. I think you would have symptoms before it got to the life threatening stage.

Kathy

ok......well im sorry to say but late last year a friend of a friend died while getting her band put in

She was only 31 yrs old and a mother of 3 children:mad:

im not trying to scare anyone here i just wanted to let you know that it can happen with the band

I think she weighed over 300pounds and ran into a few complications.

I had surgery with Dr. Roberto Rumbaut in Monterrey, Mexico and during my pre-op we discussed mortality rates in lap band patients. Dr. Rumbaut has performed over 4000 lap band surgeries and he's never had a patient die from the lap band. He told me the only case he's aware of where a lap-band patient died, was a case where a man could not get water past his band and became severely dehydrated and eventually died from complications brought on by the dehydration. 1 death in 2500 surgeries (and who knows what other health issues were involved in that one death) is pretty good odds. The biggest risk with the lap band surgery is the anesthesia.

I think it's a great idea for you to take your daughter along with you to your next appointment or to a seminar about lap-band. If nothing else, she may recieve information which will cause her to become interested in nutrition and hopefully avoid a future of yo-yo diets and obesity. No knowledge is ever a waste.

Good luck to you and to your daughter during your weight loss journey.

ok......well im sorry to say but late last year a friend of a friend died while getting her band put in

She was only 31 yrs old and a mother of 3 children:mad:

im not trying to scare anyone here i just wanted to let you know that it can happen with the band

I think she weighed over 300pounds and ran into a few complications.

O.K. Fee,

Fess up, what are these complications your friend had? Since we're wanting to know about lap band related deaths I think it's important to know exactly what contributed to your friend's death. Was it the surgery itself, was it some surgical complication, blood clots, infection, what?

I too researched the topic alot and only found 1 person, the lady from Chicago who's stomach was puncture who died.

You must remember to look at the risks involved in staying obese and weight them against the risk of surgery. Obesity kills in higher rates than this surgery.

Best of luck to ya!

There was a recent death reported on the pacific northwest bandster board on Yahoo. The cousin of the women that died posted about it. She went to Dr. Kuri in Mexico for surgery. I think it happened a couple of weeks ago.

Barbara

O.K. Fee,

Fess up, what are these complications your friend had? Since we're wanting to know about lap band related deaths I think it's important to know exactly what contributed to your friend's death. Was it the surgery itself, was it some surgical complication, blood clots, infection, what?

i said it was Friend of a friend not a FRIEND of mine

it was the surgery some complications. i will see what else i can find out about it and let you know

Thanks Fee - I think we all might seem a bit skeptical when someone "knows" of someone who has died from this procedure since the death rates are very low. (see my previous posts on this)

As with the woman where my daughter works, I am very interested in what happend.

My surgeon has lost one patient from an embolism a few days after surgery. From what I understand the patient has a couple of medical issues and refused to get up and walk after surgery.

ok i just found out what happened

the girl had a heart valve....so it wasnt form the band it was from the surgery as i already tho it was

no matter what surgery she was going in to have it wouldv happened anyway:mad:

She actually died from a heart attack and all the tests should have been carried out before the op so im not quite sure what happened with that.

So please just make sure before u have the op.....please get all your tests done before hand

Goodluck in your decision:)

ahhh thanks for the update - glad it wasn't due to something the dr did or from the band

not sure, but do the pre-op tests show defects like heart valve problems? Im struggling to remember what ones you get - and each dr is so different with things.

I've read that the death rate is .05 from the lapband surgery. Alot less than with GB.

Like many posted above, surgery in general obviously has it's risks but I felt confident in my surgeon's abilities and decided that it was a safe decision for me. He told me that the biggest risk was that he could nick my stomach by accident but that he knew how to fix it and then get out without placing the band. That made me feel better. (He's never nicked anyone but he said he's had training on what to do if something went wrong.)

I'm so curious about what this lady told your daughter. If she personally knew two victims I surely hope they weren't patients of the same surgeon. Yikes.

You're a good mom to be concerned for your daughter and I agree that it's important for both of you to feel comfortable with your decision. Good luck, you'll do great!