11-Year Experience with Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding for Morbid Obesity—What Happened to the First 123 Patients?

Few long-term studies regarding the outcome of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding for morbid obesity have so far been published. We report our 11-year experience with the technique by looking closely at the first 123 patients that have at least 5 years (mean 86 months) of follow-up.

Data have been collected prospectively among 280 patients operated since March 1996. Until March 2002 (minimum 5-year follow-up), 123 patients have been operated laparoscopically with the Swedish band. We report major late complications, reoperations, excess weight losses (EWL) and failure rates among these patients, with a mean (range) follow-up time of 86 months (60–132). EWL < 25% or major reoperation was considered as a failure. EWL > 50% was considered a success.

Mean (range) age of the patients (male/female ratio 31:92) was 43 years (21–44). Mean (range) preoperative weight was 130 kg (92–191). Mean (range) preoperative body mass index was 49.28 kg/m² (35.01–66.60). Patients lost to follow-up was nearly 20% at 5 years and 30% at 8 years. Major late complications (including band erosions 3.3%, slippage 6.5%, leakage 9.8%) leading to major reoperation occurred in 30 patients (24.4%). Nearly 40% of the reoperations was performed during the third year after the operation. The mean EWL at 7 years was 56% in patients with the band in place, but 46% in all patients. The failure rates increased from about 15% during years 1 to 3 to nearly 40% during years 8 and 9. The success rate declined from nearly 60% at 3 years to 35% at 8 and 9 years.

Complications requiring reoperations are common during the third year after the operation, and almost 25% of the patients will need at least one reoperation. Mean EWL in all patients does not exceed 50% in 7 years or 40% in 9 years and failure rates increase with time, up to 40% at 9 years.