The fourth-largest American city, Houston, TX is located in Harris County and covers 579.4 square miles. As of July 2009, 2,257,926 lived there. This marks a population increase of 15.6% since 2000. Of those residents, 19.5% lived in poverty. There is a nearly even balance between males and females in the city. 42.7% of the population is Hispanic, with the other majority balancing between White and Black. Just 5.4% are Asian.
The median age of a Houston resident is 30.9 years, slightly younger than that of the state of Texas. The state's largest city, Houston boasts many zip codes including: 77001, 77002, 77003, 77004 and 77005. The median income per household is $44,315 Renters pay a gross average of $775 per month in rent.
Houston, Texas is home to an impressive array of hospitals including the Menninger Clinic and The Institute for Rehabilitation & Research. The city also houses the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the world. The facility boasts 13 hospitals, including Texas Children's Hospital and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Known for its innovation in medicine, the city hosts patients from all over the world. Countless disciplines are represented, including ear, nose and throat, neurologists, plastic surgeons and cardiologists.
Adjustable gastric banding is a reversible type of weight loss surgery that is often performed laparoscopically. In adjustable gastric banding surgery, an adjustable band is placed around the circumference of the top of the stomach, which forms a small pouch where the food is contained when eaten, causing a feeling of fullness after eating only small quantities.
Weight Loss Surgery Performed?
During adjustable gastric banding weight loss surgery, the surgeon places an inflatable silicon band around the top portion of the stomach, forming a small pouch. The band is attached to a tube that connects to a small port placed just below the skin of the abdomen.
Over time, each patient can have his or her weight loss tailored to fit his or her own needs through saline injections into the port, which inflates the band to make it tighter, shrinking the passageway through which food travels from the pouch to the lower portion of the stomach and small intestine. The band can also be loosened if needed to adjust to the patient's weight loss needs.
Adjustable gastric banding weight loss surgery is generally performed laparoscopically and takes about two hours. You can have the surgery as an outpatient or with a one-night hospital stay, depending on your weight loss surgeon's instructions, your prior medical history, and your insurance.
Adjustable Gastric Banding Surgery
The primary advantages of adjustable gastric banding surgery are that the procedure is reversible and that the stomach pouch size is adjustable. The following facts are true of adjustable gastric banding weight loss surgery:
- adjustable gastric banding weight loss surgery is reversible
- two main adjustable gastric banding procedures are LAP-BAND® and REALIZE® Band
- stomach pouch size is adjustable via the access port, with the surgeon making the first adjustment about six weeks after the initial surgery
- adjustable gastric bands are generally adjusted 4 - 6 times during the first year following initial surgery
- you lose approximately 5 - 10 pounds each month, until you have lost about 2/3 of your excess body weight
As with all weight loss surgeries, complications are possible. The following risks are involved with adjustable gastric banding surgery:
- irritation of the stomach lining, causing pain and possible ulcers
- port or tube problems that must be corrected by minor surgery, such as the following:
- port turning backwards, no longer allowing access with a needle from outside the body to fill the band
- the tube and port becoming disconnected
- perforation occurring in the tube during port access (band filling)
- infections
- bleeding internally
The adjustable gastric band has the lowest complication rate of current weight loss surgeries.
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