Complications of adjustable gastric banding

Abstract

Adjustable gastric banding (AGB) has become increasingly used by bariatric surgeons and their patients as the surgical weight loss procedure of choice. The popularity of this procedure is in large part a result of the remarkable safety profile and low initial complication rate. Complications of AGB were initially believed to be minor and infrequent, but longer-term studies have increasingly described complications that lead to revisional surgery. In addition, a larger fraction of patients fail to lose weight than with other surgical weight loss procedures, frequently necessitating conversion to these other options.