[Laparoscopic mini gastric bypass for the treatment of morbid obesity. Initial experience]

The mini-invasive treatment of morbid obesity represents a priority of our surgical team. The majority of the patients have been operated on restrictive bariatric procedures. The technique we are presenting is indicated for the extreme and super obese patients (BMI >50 kg/m2) for whom the restrictive procedures are less efficient. In these situations we have performed a mixed procedure, combining two principles restriction and malabsorption by creating a low capacity gastric tube connected to the jejunum through a linear stapled anastomosis. The name of these procedure is mini gastric bypass and our experience is consisting of 7 patients, with BMI between 52.7 and 71.69 kg/m2, with very important comorbidities. In this paper we are describing the specifics of the laparoscopic approach and the postoperative results at 3-18 months. We have recorded one conversion to the open surgery, two hemorrhagic postoperative complications and one marginal ulcer (3 month post-operatively); all complications were treated conservatively. All the patients lost weight, the EWL at 12 months was between 45.26% and 77.65%, while the co-morbidities had a significant good evolution. The procedure was efficient, well accepted and tolerated by the patients.