A prospective randomized comparison of gastric bypass and gastroplasty. Complications and early results.

Fifty-seven morbidly obese patients were randomized to gastric bypass (29) or gastroplasty (28) and observed for 24 months postoperatively. Operating time and hospital stay were longer and peroperative and postoperative complications somewhat more common in the bypass than in the gastroplasty group. But weight loss at 1 year was significantly greater and failures significantly fewer after gastric bypass.

Comparison of intramuscular and epidural morphine for postoperative analgesia in the grossly obese: influence on postoperative ambulation and pulmonary function.

In a randomized double-blind study of thirty grossly obese patients undergoing gastroplasty for weight reduction, the effects of intramuscular and epidural morphine were compared as regards analgesia, ambulation, gastrointestinal motility, early and late pulmonary function, duration of hospitalization, and occurrence of deep vein thrombosis in the postoperative period. The patients were operated on under thoracic epidural block combined with light endotracheal anesthesia. A six-grade scale was devised to quantify postoperative mobilization.