Adjustable silicone gastric banding for obesity.

Adjustable gastric banding is the least invasive operation for morbid obesity. Forty-eight patients underwent surgical adjustable gastric banding between March 1990 and August 1991. In 15 of these patients, radiological examination was performed in the early postoperative period because of dysphagia and vomiting, revealing stenosis of the stoma in all cases (caliber less than 0.3 cm); in all patients we easily punched, with fluoroscopically guided observation, the inflatable portion and obtained a true calibration of the gastric banding. In seven patients radiological examination was performed 2 months after surgical treatment because of a lack of weight loss. Radiological findings explain surgical failure, revealing a too wide stoma in four patients, the absence of a gastric pouch due to a too high position of the band in two, and the caudal sliding of the banding in one patient.