WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Study: gastric bypass surgery more effective than band method

New York, New York - January 16, 2012

An estimated 220-thousand  Americans have weight loss surgery every year -- that's double the number a decade ago. There are two common types of procedures and a new study has found that one may be more effective.

Vonett Trotman decided to have weight loss surgery after being diagnosed with high blood pressure. "I was so heavy, when I went to the doctor, no scale would be able to tell me
my weight," Trotman said.
 
She chose  a procedure called gastric banding. Doctors put an adjustable band around part of the stomach. It limits the amount a person can eat.  Trotman thought banding was the safest option, but three years later after complaining to her doctor, she had the band removed.

"I told her what is going on? I'm not losing any weight, I'm gaining weight and now I'm having chest pains," she said.

Trotman's experience is not unusual. Nearly half of patients who chose gastric banding were still obese after six years according to a new study in The Archives of Surgery.  Patients also had more long-term complications and follow-up operations than those who had gastric bypass, where doctors use staples to create a small stomach pouch.  

The study found that people who had gastric bypass surgery lost more weight more quickly and kept it off longer than those who had the band.

Dr. Mitchell Rosen, Head of Obesity Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital, says there is a reason that bypass patients may have better results. "When we actually remove part of the stomach, we change the hormones that control hunger and fullness and we change people's relationship with food.

"It was a big mistake. It was an experience that I learned from but it was a big mistake," Vonett Trotman said.

She underwent gastric bypass in the fall and  has shed 77 pounds. With diet and exercise she plans to lose even more.

Randall Pinkston - CBS News