Gastric Bypass Lowers Risk of Death - TIME

So in the well publicized studies on how weight loss surgery increases life expectency... one thing caught my eye:

"...after 10 years, bypass patients had maintained a 25% weight loss, compared to a 16% loss in patients who had stomach stapling, and 14% in those who underwent a banding procedure"

That sucks!

Put me in that 14% group!

I don't belive in studies. There has been some much medical advancement in 10 years, how can you even go by a study that started 10 years ago.

Do not let this discourage you!!! please!!

I love my band, BUT you do have to follow the rules, be ABSOLUTELY ready for it, and have good follow-up care.

LapBand surgery was not even being done in the US 10 years ago.....:cry

I wonder if they averaged in those that had the lapband but then had to have it removed for some reason and regained their weight? I wouldn't put much stock in that study!

With the band you are not having to worry about stretching out your bypass pouch which totally negates the original procedure. I think that happens to many bypass people when they gain back...they have slowly stretched out their pouches. I don't think that's much of an issue with us because you can't stretch your pouch without doing damage to the band location and it would require surgical fixing. I think banders would be much more "aware" of their bands than bypass people would be of their guts long after the fact. I could be wrong....

I'm pretty sure the band they are referring to is the mesh band, that is not adjustable. It was called vertical banded gastroplasty. ~Mandy

I'm with Mandy. The study is too old to be talking about our adjustable band. The stats aren't comparable. Recent 5 year studies show adjustable band patients losing comparable or slightly more than the GB patients, not less.

I'm pretty sure the band they are referring to is the mesh band, that is not adjustable. It was called vertical banded gastroplasty. ~Mandy

That's a great point. Ten years ago that is the only band that was available in the US and it had a poor track record. It was not adjustable and it was a pretty extreme procedure with a lot of complications and failures. They would staple down a majority of the stomach, place a ring around the stomach and that was ALL the restriction there was. It was a horrible band, horrible procedure, and a big flop.

Bypass has a high failure rate for a few reasons. The two biggest are the pouch stretching and the fact that after 18 months to five years the inside of the intestine begins growing back so the patient can absorb fat and calories again. But they never absorb nutrition properly.

When the adjustable band has been around for a bit I'd love to see those 10 year stats.

This isn't a US study, but a Swedish study. The Band has been done there for ten years. This is not the VBG. :confused: Does this refer to the Swedish Band (Obtech, now JNJ)... could be. Still, it works very similar to the Inamed/Allergan Band.

The study itself is not ten years old, but looked at people over a ten year period. I'm really surprised by the Banding figure. That means that people who were Banded and needed to lose 100 pounds, only kept off 14 pounds by the end of 10 years. RNYers didn't do much better, to be honest... with 25 pounds off. The VBG group (most likely the stomach stapling) kept off 16 pounds.

I'd like to see someone replicate that study. It flies in the face of all the other studies I've seen of long term bandsters. The other interesting thing is that I went ot a support group once of bandsters who were at least 7 years out, and all were at goal weight.....

The study was pretty extensive:

"The second study, led by researchers at Gothenburg University in Sweden, involved 4,047 obese volunteers, 2,010 who underwent some form of bariatric surgery and 2,037 who received conventional obesity treatment, including lifestyle intervention, behavior modification or no treatment at all. Ten years after surgery, researchers report, the bariatric surgery patients had lost more weight and had a 24% lower risk of death than the comparison group. Though the overall number of subjects in this study is much smaller than the first, the results confirm general benefits of bariatric surgery, and gastric bypass in particular: after 10 years, bypass patients had maintained a 25% weight loss, compared to a 16% loss in patients who had stomach stapling, and 14% in those who underwent a banding procedure."

Of the long-term Bandster studies, I don't know of any that have looked at that many patients. I think Weiner in Germany had one that looked at 900 patients... but I don't know how many were still Banded at 8 years. I'm going to try and find a copy of the real Swedish study. Remember, Banding began in Sweden back in 1985 with the first adjustable gastric band developed by Obtech. The Swedes have much more experience than Americans with regards to Banding.

14% does seem very low, to me. But, perhaps they average in the weight of those who had their Bands removed as well. If the typical average Bandster loses between 50-60% of Excess Weight, then I would think at 10 years they would be at least around the 30% mark. But hey, what do I know? :confused:

As for the person who met Bandsters seven years out who were all at goal... I find that fascinating... as I am over 6 years out. Those would be FDA-trial Bandsters.... and a lot of them had a lot of problems as US doctors weren't very good at follow-up for the Band at the time.

Yes, many were experimentals and some were overseas people.

2000 bariatrics divided by 3 groups = approx. 666 early assorted Bandsters...maybe sleeve and adjustable?

Even if we were to divide them based on their ages, instructions given, support aftercare, BMI, associated medical problems, motivation or whatever, it's a small number.

That would be great if you could find the study so we could look at the statistical procedures too.

I think a key point here is the following in bold:

The second study, led by researchers at Gothenburg University in Sweden, involved 4,047 obese volunteers, 2,010 who underwent some form of bariatric surgery and 2,037 who received conventional obesity treatment, including lifestyle intervention, behavior modification or no treatment at all. Ten years after surgery, researchers report, the bariatric surgery patients had lost more weight and had a 24% lower risk of death than the comparison group. Though the overall number of subjects in this study is much smaller than the first, the results confirm general benefits of bariatric surgery, and gastric bypass in particular: after 10 years, bypass patients had maintained a 25% weight loss, compared to a 16% loss in patients who had stomach stapling, and 14% in those who underwent a banding procedure.

It does not state which banding procedure was done.

Unless we know all the details of the study it's hard to form an opinion. I was just reading a study yesterday that claims diet and behavior mod are successful for losing 100lbs. What the study does not say is who kept it off. Lots of people can lose weight, very few MO folks can keep it off.

Ain't THAT the truth......

Also it sounds like they meant 14% of total weight, not 14% of excess weight, which seems to be the unit more commonly discussed with the results of weight loss surgery.

So a 200-lb person who lost 14% of total weight would have lost 28 lbs and be at 172 lbs 10 years later, for example, and that same person, and if we assume their ideal weight was 140, would have actually maintained a loss of 47% of excess weight over that period.

The numbers aren't even really comparable since starting weight and ideal weight are so different for each individual and can't be inferred from total percentage of weight lost.

I agree, I believe that their statistics may be somewhat misleading because after the research that I have done on the web and at some doctor's offices, most patients have kept off anywhere from 40-50%of their excess weight.