Gastric banding for clinically severe obesity: results with the Swedish band.

Parallel with the rise of the obesity pandemic, bariatric surgery is quickly becoming one of the most frequently performed GI procedures. In selected, well-informed patients, restrictive surgery offers a good alternative to more complex malabsorption-inducing procedures. Laparoscopic gastric banding is a reversible, technically straightforward procedure. Both early and late complications seen with the original models are less common with the Swedish adjustable gastric band SAGB (Ethicon Endosurgery, Johnson & Johnson, Dilbeek, Belgium) engineered as a low-pressure device. This chapter is a review of our experience with the SAGB and provides an overview of current controversies regarding its place in management of severe obesity.