How Does Adjustable Lap Band Surgery Work?
Adjustable gastric banding or adjustable lap band surgery is designed to help a morbidly obese patient to lose weight by restricting the quantity of food which can be put into the stomach at any given time. With a gastric band placed around the stomach it assumes an hourglass shape with a small pouch at the top which can only hold about 50 ml of food. This small pouch fills up very quickly and send a signal to the brain to say that the stomach is full which helps the patient to eat less and thus to consume fewer calories. Should a patient try to eat more then the small size of the pouch on the upper stomach prevents this and any excess food swallowed is simply vomited. From the small stomach pouch food is released slowly through the band, the size of which can be controlled, and then enters the small intestine in the normal manner.