Vertical Banded Gastroplasty - Gastric Bypass in Mexican Patients with Severe Obesity: 1 Year Experience

Background: Different surgical alternatives for the treatment of severe obesity have been described. The two most common surgical procedures are the Vertical Banded Gastroplasty (VBG) and the Rouxen-Y Gastric Bypass (GBP). Methods: This work describes the results seen during the first 12 months after a surgical technique named Vertical Banded Gastroplasty-Gastric Bypass on 221 Mexican patients with severe obesity operated on between March 1993 and August 1996. Results: 73.3% of the patients were female with an average age of 33.4 years with a standard deviation (SD) of 10 years. The initial mean overweight was 62.2 kg (SD = 26.5 kg). The percentage of ideal weight was 202.3% (SD = 39.4%). The initial body mass index (BMI) was 44.9 kg/m² (SD = 9.1). The average of excess weight loss in a year was 81.2% (SD = 15.6%) and the BMI was lowered to 26.7 kg/m² (SD = 5.9). An interesting finding was that the greater the initial overweight, the lesser the resulting weight loss (r = 0.57, P < 0.001). Conclusions: The procedure was fairly easy to perform. The results were excellent in terms of weight loss and postoperative complications. It is an early experience and the long-term results are still inconclusive; regular check-ups should indicate the procedure's long-term effectiveness.