Incidence of gastroenterostomy stenosis in laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass using 21- or 25-mm circular stapler: a randomized prospective blinded study.

Background: Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is the most common bariatric procedure performed in the United States today. The most common early complication after laparoscopic Roux-en-Y is stenosis. No randomized studies have compared the effect of the different staplers on the incidence of stenosis or on long-term weight loss.

Comparison of recovery time after open and laparoscopic gastric bypass and laparoscopic adjustable banding.

Background: Laparoscopy is believed to reduce recovery time and patient discomfort following bariatric surgical operations. This study tests that hypothesis.

Methods: 60 randomly selected bariatric surgery patients, consisting of 20 open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP), 19 lap RYGBP, and 21 laparoscopic adjustable banding, were studied.

Sensitivity and specificity of postoperative upper GI series following gastric bypass.

Background: Routine postoperative GI series has been common before discharging gastric bypass patients. 78,000 operations were performed in the USA in 2002. At 75 dollars each, the total annual expenditure for the upper GI series approaches 6 million dollars.

Perceived psychosocial outcomes of gastric bypass surgery: a qualitative study.

Background: Attempts to understand postoperative psychosocial changes in the lives of individuals who have undergone gastric bypass surgery for morbid obesity have 1) been guided by constructs emanating from the assumptions of researchers, and 2) have resulted in fragmented conclusions that catalogue changes without theoretically integrating them.

Materials And Methods: Using unstructured and semi-structured interviews and in-depth focus groups, 31 patients were asked in an open-ended fashion about the ways, if any, in which gastric bypass surgery had affected their lives. Grounded theory methodology was utilized in order to identify emergent themes and their interrelations, and build a meaningful, comprehensive theory of life after gastric bypass.

Medical and surgical options in the treatment of severe obesity.

Weight loss programs, diets, and drug therapy have not shown long-term effectiveness in treating morbid obesity. A 1992 statement from the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference affirmed the superiority of surgical over nonsurgical approaches to this condition. Bariatric surgical procedures work in 1 of 2 ways: by restricting a patient's ability to eat (restrictive procedures) or by interfering with ingested nutrient absorption (malabsorptive procedures).

A review of psychosocial outcomes of surgery for morbid obesity.

There is consistent evidence to support the notion that morbid obesity poses serious risks to physical health and has a substantial impact on psychosocial well-being. Researchers agree that bariatric surgery is currently the most viable option for successful weight loss and maintenance in the morbidly obese individual. The drastic, major weight loss and alleviation of medical risks that patients typically experience post-surgically are accompanied by psychosocial changes that appear to be equally remarkable.