11/29/07

Trace Curry, MD, a board-certified surgeon in Cincinnati who specializes in minimally-invasive bariatric surgery, performed RealizeTM Adjustable Gastric Band on five patients who are reportedly doing well. Curry, head of The Center for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery in Cincinnati and medical director of JourneyLite of Cincinnati, an outpatient bariatric surgery center scheduled to open in early spring of 2008, is the first surgeon in the state of Ohio to place the Ethicon Endo-Surgery Realize Band in patients as an alternative to the Lap Band for the treatment of obesity.

"With the emergence of the new Realize Band into the marketplace, individuals seeking treatment for obesity now have greater choices when considering their options for laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding," Curry says. "The Realize band, like the Lap Band, continues to be the safest, least invasive surgical treatment for obesity."

The FDA approved the use of the Ethicon Endo-Surgery Realize Band for the treatment of obesity in late September.

[www.medicalnewstoday.com, November 29, 2007]