National trends in use and outcome of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding

From 2004 to 2007, significant growth occurred in the number of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (+329%) and laparoscopic gastric bypass (+125%) procedures, with a precipitous decrease in the number of open gastric bypass (−73%) procedures. The increasing popularity of the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band procedure could in part be related to the lower cost and lower morbidity compared with laparoscopic gastric bypass.