What Will Happen During Your Lap Band Surgery

After you get to the operating room for the lap band procedure, the nurse is going to have you move to the operating room bed. The anesthesiologist or CRNA will then begin placing sensors on you, and the circulating nurse may be placing SCD's onto your legs or feet. Soon after all monitors are positioned, the anesthesiologist or CRNA will then begin having you breath oxygen through an oxygen mask. Soon after, you'll start to get medication through your IV to make you become unconscious. You will be receiving general anesthesia for this particular procedure, therefore you will need to have a breathing tube placed. As soon as the medication is taking effect and you're unconscious, the anesthesiologist or CRNA will put in the breathing tube. After the breathing tube is secure, you are going to be positioned and prepped for surgery. If you are male, your abdomen might be shaved. You might have a catheter placed in your bladder to empty urine. The circulating nurse will then "prep" your belly utilizing betadine or "CHG" - a germ-killing antimicrobial skin cleaning solution.

Once your abdomen is prepped with the skin cleanser, the surgical team will begin to place sterile drapes over you. You will be covered completely with these sterile drapes except for the area in which they will be making the incisions. After all the drapes are on, and all the equipment the surgeon will be using is hooked up and ready to go, the lap band procedure will begin.

The surgeon begins by making several small cuts in your abdomen. These incisions will be used to place the laparoscope and laparoscopic equipment through. Carbon dioxide gas is then pumped in to inflate your abdomen; this is to make it easier for your surgeon to see. The surgeon uses the laparoscope to look inside your abdomen without the need to make a significant incision and open your abdomen. The surgeon is going to be looking at a monitor that the video coming from the laparoscope will be transferred to through the entire lap band procedure.

A unique adjustable round band will be inserted through one of the small incision sites, and very carefully placed surrounding the upper part of your stomach utilizing the laparoscopic instruments. After the band is put within the appropriate position, it will be fastened in place. An access port that's attached to the band with specific tubing will be placed into the abdominal wall. This access port is placed to where it will be later used to modify the band. Through a specific needle and syringe to increase or take away saline, the band will become tight or loose. Right after the band and port are properly secured, the incisions are closed up with either staples or suture.

When the lap band procedure has ended the anesthesiologist or CRNA will wake you up. You may hear them requesting that you open up your mouth or squeeze their hand. They do this to ensure that you are alert enough to breath without any help before they remove the breathing tube. They should then take the breathing tube out. You are going to be moved on to a stretcher and they'll wheel you in to the recovery area or PACU (post anesthesia care unit).