Vertical banded gastroplasty vs gastric bypass in the treatment of obesity.

Two hundred consecutive patients undergoing surgical intervention for morbid obesity had either the gastric bypass or the vertical banded gastroplasty. Both groups were similar in patient composition. In the vertical banded gastroplasty patients, operating room time was lessened by 70 minutes, blood loss lessened by 225 mL, and hospital stay shortened by two days as compared with the gastric bypass patients. At 30 months, a 64-percent mean excess weight loss was observed in the gastric bypass vs a 56-percent mean excess weight loss in the vertical banded gastroplasty group. The vertical banded gastroplasty procedure is preferred because there is no late stomal dilation with weight gain, no vitamin B(12) deficiency, and most important, this procedure leaves the remainder of the stomach and duodenum available for endoscopic and radiologic evaluation.