[Endoscopic obesity surgery: gastric banding. A new trend without scientific basis?]

Indication for operation in morbid obesity is a body mass index greater than 40 kg/m2. Various operative procedures such as vertical banded gastroplasty and gastric bypass are used for therapy. Since 1994 the laparoscopic performed gastric banding is an alternative to conventional techniques. The mortality rate of this technique is below 1%, summarizing data from the literature of 905 patients the complication rate ranged to 24%. These results are comparable to conventional operations. Regarding the weight loss the results are comparable to the vertical banded gastroplasty. 80% of the patients loss 60% of their excess weight at 12 months. The rate of conversion to open procedure is low and ranges to 2.4%. Especially in obese patients the laparoscopic approach offers the well known advantages of endoscopic procedures. Open questions are the long-term effects and complications of laparoscopic gastric banding.