Bridges Centre among first to offer new gastric banding device

[Phoenix - June 17, 2008] - The Bridges Centre for Surgical Weight Management is among the first in the Valley to offer the RealizeTM Adjustable Gastric Band, a device that is surgically implanted around the stomach to help people with morbid obesity lose weight and improve or resolve obesity-related health conditions including type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea and high cholesterol.

In the clinical trial that led to its FDA approval, Realize Band patients lost an average of 50 pounds or 40 percent of their excess body weight within the first year of surgery and maintained that weight loss over three years. More than one-third of patients lost 50 percent or more and about 10 percent lost 75 percent or more of their excess weight.

The Realize Personalized Banding Solution gives patients the Realize mySUCCESSTM program, which provides support to help patients successfully achieve long-term weight loss. With Realize mySUCCESS, patients and physicians can set goals and continuously watch the patient’s progress together and benefit from the added support available to them online.

Realize Band patients in the U.S. clinical study experienced a 22 percent increase in good cholesterol (HDL) and a decrease in bad cholesterol (LDL), total cholesterol and triglycerides 36 months after surgery. Additionally, patients experienced a statistically significant reduction I the key indicator for type 2 diabetes.

The Bridges Centre for Surgical Weight Management at St. Luke’s Medical Center was named an American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS) Center of Excellence by the Surgical Review Corp. (SRC) in 2006. The award is peer reviewed by the most competent doctors in the industry and the hospital received the designation in collaboration with bariatric surgeons Hilario Juarez, MD, and Daniel Fang, MD.