Many patients opt for less-aggressive surgical approaches, including an adjustable gastric band (which can be reversed) that forms a pouch in the stomach, or a sleeve gastrectomy, in which a portion of the stomach is removed, leaving a tube for food to pass through.
Fewer than 300 people in the study had gastric bypass surgery, a more dramatic technique in which the surgeon creates a golf-ball-shaped pouch to curb food intake.