Gastric banding surgery can effectively treat obesity in teens: Study

A new study has shown that laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding surgery can effectively treat obesity in adolescents and seems to offer a better alternative than gastric bypass surgery.

However, further study is needed to determine whether it's better than nonsurgical options, says a UT Southwestern Medical Center surgeon.

While gastric bypass surgery permanently alters the stomach, laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding surgery can be reversed and has fewer complications, making it a better fit for the still-growing adolescent population, noted Dr. Edward Livingston, chief of GI/endocrine surgery at UT Southwestern.

The findings are based on a study conducted by Australian researchers, who compared gastric banding surgery to medically supervised diets among 50 randomly assigned obese adolescents.

The Australian data showed greater weight loss among patients receiving the bands, but complication rates raised questions about whether it was worth the benefit, Dr. Livingston said.

In addition, the researchers found that while medical interventions successfully controlled many of the problematic disease complications without surgery, improvements were greater with surgery, he said.

The study appears in the February 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.