Greetings All - I would like to do some research on long term use of the band, say beyond 15-20 years. Of course, most of this will come from Europe or Australia. Can anyone lead me to a site or link with some long term data? Thanks, in advance, Drifter.

I am interested in this information, as well.

I don't have a site, but when I asked the same question prior to banding, a LBT member from Israel said they have had it for over 10 years. She also said that most of the people she knows who have had a band that long have had to have a second surgery for a variety of reasons. Good luck finding the statistics you're looking for.

Emily

The oldest stats I know of are on the ILOST Site. Probably refer to the Swedish Band made by Obtech, as that was the first band... although all of the ILOST surgeons moved to the Lap-Band (now owned by Allergan.)

Go to http://www.obesitylapbandsurgery.com/statmain.html

I'm also going to post this

Obes Surg. 2004 Feb;14(2):256-60. Related Articles, Links

Literature review of comparative studies of complications with Swedish band and Lap-Band.

Fried M, Miller K, Kormanova K.

Centre for Obesity Treatment, Prague, Czech Republic. docfried@volny.cz

BACKGROUND: Gastric restriction is a treatment option for morbid obesity. Currently there are several types of adjustable gastric bands available, with two leading but conceptionally different systems, not just from a technical point of view but also from the long-term complication rates. METHODS: A literature search of articles published from January 1997 to December 2002 dealing with prospective or restrospective studies comparing results of treatment with the Swedish band and Lap-Band was carried out. RESULTS: 7 comparative studies fulfilled inclusion criteria, with a total of 1031 patients in the Swedish band (41-597) and 1305 patients in the Lap-band groups (34-821). Pouch dilatation/slippage and/or erosion in Swedish vs Lap-band were reported in the studies as follows: 1 vs 2 in study group 1, 0 vs 9 in study group 2, 0 vs 3 in 3, 3 vs 38 in 4, 0 vs 64 (slippages) and 4 vs 4 (erosions) in group 5. In study 6, 3 vs 3 dilatations and 0 vs 1 erosions were reported. Study 7 found 12 vs 42 long-term complications of this origin. Port-site infections, total reoperation rates and length of hospital stay were also compared. CONCLUSION: The results of this meta-analysis reveal that fall in BMI is similar with both laparoscopic bands. Long-term complication rates, despite the fact that they have been defined in a similar way in all the included studies, may be higher with more reoperation rates in Lap-band® patients.

Here is a link to a thread on the same topic:

http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=16051&highlight=long+term