Thirteen years of follow-up in patients with adjustable silicone gastric banding for obesity: weight loss and constant rate of late specific complications.

Background: Despite its simplicity, safety and good short-term results, progressive weight regain and a high incidence of complications have been reported after the adjustable silicone gastric banding (ASGB). The aim of this study is to evaluate the long-term results of this operation in our patient population.

Methods: Between 1990 and 1996, 45 morbidly obese patients underwent insertion of an ASGB. The trend of the patients' BMI over time was studied using a linear mixed effect model adjusted for the preoperative BMI. So as to estimate the cumulative probability of band removal and the cumulative hazard function, Lambda(t) Kaplan-Meier analysis was used.

Results: 1 year after the operation, the average BMI was 79% of its preoperative value, which then increased linearly over time. The slope of the regression line was estimated at beta =0.42, indicating an average increase of 0.42 BMI units per year. 27 bands (60%) were removed because of specific late complications. The cumulative risk of band removal increased linearly with time. The hazard rate was estimated to be lambda =0.008 events/patient/month, corresponding to 0.1 events/patient/year.

Conclusions: ASGB yielded good short-term results, but the progressive weight regain and constant risk of complications in the long term tend to nullify the optimism.