VERTICAL BANDED GASTROPLASTY - ONE TREATMENT FOR ESOPHAGITIS AND OR WEIGHT-GAIN AFTER GASTRIC BANDING

Gastric banding (GB) was the method of choice for the surgical treatme nt of obesity at our institution between 1981 and 1986. We abandoned t he method in 1986 because of poor results. Reflux esophagitis and weig ht gain after a period of weight loss were common problems despite att empts at surgical correction. Of the 92 patients who underwent GB, 36 were reoperated with vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG) due to endosco pically verified esophagitis, weight gain or both. Postoperatively, th e patients reported ameliorated reflux symptoms without any substantia l weight gain after the initial weight loss during the study period. T he VBG, after GB, was performed with a rate of complications similar t o that of primary VBG performed at our institution. Five patients (14% ) were reoperated after the conversion with VBG, compared to 11% (15/1 34) and 55% (51/92) reoperated patients after primary VBG and GB respe ctively at our institution. GB, by our technique, seems to be a poor p rocedure, and VBG is in comparison the method of choice.