The gastric banding procedure

Based on the use of the Swedish Band the average cost to the MUHC of the LAGB procedure, including two years follow-up and the costs of complications, is estimated to be $7,771. [...] From the point of view of the provincial health care system the direct costs of the LAGB and the LR-en-Y procedures were approximately $9,418 and $7,064, respectively. [...] Thus, apart from the cost of the gastric band device, the costs of the two operations were fairly comparable. [...] The cost of this procedure will be compared to the cost of the Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y (LR-en-Y) gastric bypass procedure, which is at present the preferred procedure for bariatric surgery in North America 4 and at the MUHC. [...] To obtain an overall estimate of the weight loss to be expected from the R-en-Y procedure we will rely on the Australian systematic review of 21 studies in which the percent excess weight loss is reported 7. Five of these included series of 100 or more cases and reported follow-up at three years 13-17 The average percent excess weight loss weighted by number of patients at the time of each follow-