Objective: To analyze retrospectively the mortality, morbidity, and weight loss of a specific form of gastric bypass for the treatment of morbid obesity. The technique incorporates a small pouch along the lesser curvature of the stomach, an outlet restricted by a nondistensible band and a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Material and methods: We analyzed 652 consecutive patients with no previous bariatric surgery who underwent our present form of gastric bypass. Parameters used to evaluate the technique included mortality, weight loss at 5 years and complications. The operation is a combination of vertical banded gastroplasty and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (VBG-RGB). The patients followed up to 5 years had an initial weight of 140 kg [range, 94 to 288] and a BMI of 50 [range, 38 to 86]. Superobese individuals (BMI of 60 [range, 48 to 86]) made up 42% of the group.

Results: There was an early reoperation rate of 0.5%. The incidence of late complications that required reoperation was 0.5%. There were 2 deaths in the study from pulmonary embolism for a mortality of 0.3%. At 5 years, the patients had lost an average of 58kg [range, 14 to 143] and had a percentage excess weight loss of 77 [range, 32 to 108]. Their BMI was reduced to 29 kg/m² [range, 20 to 43] and 93% lost more than 50% of the excess weight.

Conclusions: VBG-RGB is effective in producing superior weight loss in morbid and superobese patients and has a low mortality and morbidity. We recommend this procedure without reservations.