Establishing a laparoscopic gastric bypass program.

Objective: To evaluate the outcomes for laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in a newly developed bariatric surgery program.

Methods: A prospective analysis of the initial 100 patients who underwent laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass at a community based teaching hospital between December 2000 and October 2001 was performed. Study endpoints included operative time, early (less than 7 days) and late complication rates, hospital length of stay (LOS), time to initiation of oral diet, and percentage of excess body weight loss.