INTRODUCTION:

Although there are publications on the short-medium term results of gastric bypass, publications of long-term results are very limited and the results are less documented.

PATIENTS AND METHOD:

In this article we present the experience of the same surgical team with laparoscopic gastric bypass over 7 years, with a follow-up of 97% of the patients. From March 2000 until May 2007, 508 laparoscopic gastric bypasses were performed by the same surgical team.

RESULTS:

Of the 508 patients who were subjected to laparoscopic gastric bypass, 353 were women (69.5%) and 155 were men (30.5%), with a mean age of 40 years (16-71), a mean pre-operative weight of 131.3 +/- 24.5 kg (80-230) and a mean BMI of 48.3 +/- 7 (34-78). There were early complications (< 30 days) in 14.7% of the patients and delayed complications (> 30 days) in 7.3%. The mean operation time was 125.8 +/- 35.6 minutes (60-300). The mean hospital stay was 3 +/- 2.6 days (1-40). The mortality of the series was 0.8%. The EWL and BMI loss at 3 and 5 years was 77.8% and 75.1% and 82.7% and 79.8%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS:

Laparoscopic gastric bypass is an effective technique for the long-term treatment of morbid obesity, with a low number of complications, low mortality, excellent weight loss and recovery or improvement of the comorbidities associated with these patients.