Gastric partition after reversal of jejunoileal bypass for morbid obesity: three-year follow-up.

The jejunoileal bypass (JIB) has met with increasing disfavor as a result of its unacceptably high complication rate. JIB reversal was done in 54 patients at the University of Florida, with a gastric partition done concomitantly to avoid regaining weight. Weight control was generally adequate up to six months after conversion to gastric partition. However, mean weight gain progressed steadily afterward to a mean increase of 40% at three years. Six months after conversion to gastric partition, 55% of the patients (15/27) had gained weight, contrasted with 3% of 100 patients who had a gastric partition as a primary procedure. The percentage of patients gaining weight progressed until at three-year follow-up 30 of the 38 patients (79%) in this subpopulation showed a failure to control weight. It is apparent from these data that jejunoileal bypass has created a nutritional life-style that predisposes patients to hyperphagia. Conversion to a gastric partition has a much higher incidence of failure than gastric partition done de novo.