In five other cases the balloon has broken and these patients immediately started to gain weight. The balloon has also lately been reinforced in order to withstand increased pressure. All these cases had to be reoperated. Although we have now improved the implant it must be pointed out that a definite guarantee against technical problems like these can never be given. There are two types of bands that we use.
Migration occurs when the band and balloon migrates through the stomach wall into the stomach lumen.
These cases are outright failures and these patients have quickly regained their preoperative weight. With the French band there are no migrations at this point in time. The French band has however been used much shorter time and since migration usually does not occur until 18-24 months after surgery it is too early to say which band will be the better in this respect. Patients who have their bands filled quickly and with high total volumes have an increased risk of migration. Filling must be slow and gradual.