February 25, 2011
Weight Loss Surgery: Bar for Lap Band Lowered, but Is Gastric Bypass Better?
Experts Weigh Risks, Benefits of Both Procedures
By KATIE MOISSE, ABC News Medical Unit
On the heels of a Feb. 16 decision by the Food and Drug Administration to make millions more people eligible for laparoscopic gastric banding (lap band) weight loss surgery, a new study suggests the more invasive gastric bypass may be better.
Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, compared the effects of lap band and gastric bypass among 200 morbidly obese patients treated at the UCSF Bariatric Surgery Program. Gastric bypass led to greater weight loss, increased resolution of diabetes and improved quality of life one year after surgery, they reported today in Archives of Surgery.