Lap Band History

Lap Band surgery has proven to be the weight loss answer for thousands of patients worldwide since its introduction more than two decades ago.

The Lap Band system goes back to early 1985, when Dr. Dag Hallberg of Sweden petitioned for a patent for the Swedish Adjustable Gastric Band (SAGB) within Scandinavian countries. After using the SAGB in a controlled series of 50 procedures, Hallberg and his assistant, Dr. Peter Forsell, began performing the open technique to implant the SAGB on patients residing in the Scandinavian countries.

The SAGB procedure began to spread to other European countries, as surgeons started to use the laparoscopic technique. In the early 1990s, however, laparoscopic weight-loss surgery was still a challenge as a result of technical difficulties related to patient excess weight.

In 1991, a confidential project was begun by Allergen, known at that time as Inamed Development Company. A pair of Belgian surgeons, Dr. Mitiku Belachew and Dr. M. Legrand, was part of this project. They developed the novel laparoscopic gastric banding with the idea of treating additional weight in individuals.

Allergan instituted a strict policy which required that only those surgeons who had participated in the training programs organized by Allergan would be given access to the Lapband system.