|
|
|
Lap Band and Pregnancy
September 9, 2008 |
It’s no secret that America’s obesity rates are steadily increasing. Dr. Mohamed
Faisal is a neonatologist at The Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida. He
says, “In the 1980’s the average weight of a pregnant woman was in the 180 pound
range now the average weight is 200 pounds.”
In order to prevent the complications obesity can cause during pregnancy many
women are looking to shed pounds before conceiving a baby. Some women are
looking to lab-band surgery to help them do that. Dr. Moses Shieh is the Medical
Director of Bariatric Surgery for Lee Memorial Health System. He says when it
comes to pregnancy and bariatric surgery, “A female patient of child-bearing age
becomes pregnant what we can do is deflate the whole band completely.” Deflating
the lap band allows more food to flow through a woman’s digestive system and
provide proper nutrients to her fetus. “Once the pregnancy is completed and
they’re cleared we can reinflate the band again.”
But other weight loss procedures like gastric bypass surgery may not be as
accommodating to pregnancy. “With the gastric bypass we’ve had to tell our
patients in fact get them to sign a waiver that they can’t be pregnant within
that first year and a half,” says Dr. Shieh. Because the surgery drastically
alters part of the digestive system, a fetus will not likely be able to get
proper nutrients and therefore not develop correctly or even be unable to
survive. “We don’t want those things to happen, that being the case pregnancy
becomes an issue with gastric bypass.” Dr. Shieh says gastric bypass surgery
does not completely rule out the chance of having a healthy pregnancy.
When it comes to weight loss, most gastric bypass patients will plateau after
about 18 months. |
|
|
|
