Gastric Banding Emergencies

Gastric banding is considered a relatively safe surgery with very few gastric banding emergencies.

I recently attended a patient who had had a gastric band inserted only weeks prior. When I attended the gentleman informed me that he had been advised to stop eating when he felt full and not to overeat. Unfortunately, the meal that he was having was too good to resist and he had multiple plates.

The problem with overeating and gastric banding is that there is literally a gastric band (filled with saline) to provide a constriction around the stomach. If you fill the stomach too much, as is the case when you overeat, then the food has nowhere else to go but straight back up. Consequently, this gentlemen had started to vomit uncontrollably.

The person was transported to hospital and I avoided giving an antiemetic, such as maxolon or ondansetron due to the fact that he physically needed to expel the excess food that was in his stomach.

Lessons Learned:

1. If you have a gastric band, stop eating when you feel full!

2. If someone who has a gastric band starts to vomit, don’t give an antiemetic, they need to expel the excess food.