We are no longer accepting cases regarding these products.  Due to a terrible Supreme Court ruling, consumers injured by this product are no longer permitted to sue the manufacturers of this device.  We wish we could help, but the Supreme Court has taken the rights of citizens away to protect the profits of medical device manufacturers.  For more information, please read the following New York Times article entitled “Medical Device Ruling Redraws Lines on Lawsuits.“

In 2008, M. Bueter et al. published a report titled “Short- and long-term results of laparoscopic gastric banding for morbid obesity.”, reviewing the outcomes of gastric banding in the morbidly obese after up to nine years.

Bueter et al. (2008) write “Today, gastric banding has become a common bariatric procedure. Weight loss can be excellent, but is not sufficient in a significant proportion of patients” and “Few long-term studies have been published.”

This study consisted of 127 patients who underwent gastric banding between 1997 and 2004.  After a mean follow-up of 63 months “(range 2-104)”, rates for various complications were as follows: “gastric perforation in 3.1%, band erosion in 3.1%, band or port leak in 2.3%, port infection in 5.3%, port dislocation in 6.9%, and pouch dilatation in 16.9%.”  It was also found that 26.7% of patients required reoperation.

Though mean excess weight loss was just above 50% in this group, these complication rates and reoperation rates are significantly higher than those reported by Allergan for the LAP-BAND gastric banding system.  The warning label for LAP-BAND estimates that about 5% of patients will require reoperation, and that erosion, for example will only occur in 1.33% of LAP-BAND patients.

Our Allergan LAP-BAND Lawsuit Information page is a great place to start if you have any questions about the Allergan LAP-BAND.