Anesthesia for Lap Band Surgery

Are you having bariatric surgery, weight loss surgery, lap band surgery, sleeve gastrectomy, or gastric bypass surgery? What kind of anesthesia will you have?

For bariatric and weight loss surgery, you will be under general anesthesia.  This means you will be completely asleep. While you are asleep, a breathing tube will be placed into your windpipe. Among other reasons, this is to minimize your risk of gastric aspiration.

If everything goes as planned during the surgery (usually what happens) and your lungs are strong enough at the end of the case, the breathing tube will be removed as you awaken from the anesthesia. You will be taken to the recovery room where a specialized nurse will take care of you as the anesthesia fully wears off.

Being overweight or obese can lead to increased risks for undergoing anesthesia. Your anesthesiologist will be mindful of this in anticipation of your procedure. These include the chance of heart problems, breathing difficulties, trouble placing the breathing tube during anesthesia, possible difficult IV placement, and the list goes on.

But your anesthesiologist has been trained to evaluate your medical history and make the appropriate decisions for your anesthesia for lap band surgery, sleeve gastrectomy, and gastric bypass.

If you are having bariatric surgery or weight loss surgery, you have probably not made this decision without a lot of thought and research. One part of the research you may consider is to determine whether or not your surgeon works with board certified anesthesiologists. When choosing between two surgeons, this may be the deciding factor for you.

To more fully understand how anesthesia is administered in the United States (Care Team model, Personally performed by anesthesiologist, etc), read our short, FREE Ebook available in the sidebar.

If you have had lap band or gastric banding surgery, sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass surgery, or duodenal switch surgery, please let us know about your anesthesia experience by visiting our forum. Other folks just like you are stopping by the forum to learn what anesthesia may feel like.

Thanks for visiting anesthesiamyths.com!

Dr. Joe