MSNBC article (sorry if this has already been posted)

[Juliat 6]

Seems to me like the fellow they talked to has issues with LapBand. They only studied 100 morbidly obese people. That doesn't sound like a very large case study.

Gastric bypass better than Lap-Band, study says

[ElfiePoo 109]

I think this person has a bias toward bypass or didn't do thorough research. He/she certainly didn't look at the long term (greater than a year) results from either surgery.

*Everything* I've read says that bypass has far more post surgery complications than banding. Also, while bypass patients do lose more weight during the first year and resolve their diabetes faster as a result, what this article doesn't say is that at the end of 3 years, results are similar for all groups. The difference being that banding doesn't result in a lifetime of dealing with all the medical concerns related to malabsorption and rearranging your internal workings.

Sadly, the long term results for all WLS isn't that great if you look at how many actually take all their excess weight off. However, if they lose 50 or 60% of their excess weight, the surgery is deemed successful...and they don't follow them to see how many put it back on.

.

[GoMamaGo 0]

Wow- don't they have editors? The author compared "gastric banding" with a lap band at one point. Wouldn't their "research" reveal that Lap Band is just a brand of gastric band.? And, you're right, they never addressed anything after a year. Annoying.

[honk 780]

I also don't remember then addresing the malabsorption issues or dumping which are more of a quality of life issue. As someone who studied research methods in college I was also suprised at how small the sampling was. There's a great book "How to lie with statistics". Quick read with lots of pictures (Examples of Advertisements ) and very entertaining. Highly recommend it!

[Kalipso2 25]

what irritated me was this quote, "With gastric banding, doctors insert an adjustable silicone band around the upper part of the stomach, giving the patient the illusion of fullness with small meals."

i'm not hungry after small meals. that's the truth, not an illusion!!

[honk 780]

I know I read the article as someone who has been banded but it did seem pretty one sided to me. Also it did'nt really talk about how invasive the bypass is. They mentioned it could be done laproscopicly but did not say they were replumbing your digestive track! For some overweight people it is too dangerous a surgery. I know as someone who had a bloodclot that led to a stroke my doctor would'nt have done bypass.