Laparoscopic gastric banding is safe in outpatient surgical centers

Due to constraints on resources and capacity, as well as advances in surgical technique and care, there has been progressive change toward converting surgical procedures to the outpatient setting when feasible. This study was designed to investigate the safety of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) as an outpatient procedure for morbid obesity in Canada.

This retrospective analysis included consecutive patients who underwent outpatient LAGB at the Surgical Weight Loss Centre in Ontario, Canada, beginning with our initial experience in February 2005 and continuing to July 2009. Eligible patients were morbidly obese adults whose outpatient clinic surgery had been performed by one of two experienced surgeons.

A total of 1,641 patients were included in this analysis. The average presurgical body mass index was 46.7 kg/m2 (range 35.0 to 79 kg/m2). Fifteen patients (0.91%) experienced minor complications during surgery or within 30 days of surgery (dysphagia, n=5; wound infection, n=3; port infection, n=2; all other complications occurred in one patient each). Four patients required transfer to hospital from the clinic on the day of surgery, and three were admitted. None of the complications were serious and all were resolved. The device was explanted in two patients. The average time from sedation to discharge was <4 hours (h).

The ability to treat patients within 4 h and the extremely low complication rates reported here contribute to a growing literature supporting the safe performance of LAGB in an outpatient setting for the treatment of morbid obesity.