Seven year results of vertical banded gastroplasty for morbid obesity

Objective: To present our experience with a group of obese patients treated by vertical banded gastroplasty. Design: Open prospective study. Setting: Teaching hospital, Sweden. Subjects: 198 Morbidly obese patients operated on between 1986 and April 1994. Interventions: Modified Mason vertical banded gastroplasty. Main outcome measures: Weight loss, mortality, early and late morbidity, and reoperation. Results: The mean (SEM) age was 40 (0.7) and 149 of the 198 were women (75%). 22 Patients (11%) were lost to follow-up. Five patients died (3%), one soon after operation. Mean (SEM) body mass index (BMI) was 44.4 (0.5) preoperatively and this decreased to 32.6 (0.6) after four years (n = 99) and 33.8 (1.3) after seven years (n = 20). 21 patients developed 24 early postoperative complications, and 31 patients were reoperated on 41 times for late complications. Conclusion: All patients lost weight after vertical banded gastroplasty, and their weight continued to decrease during a seven-year follow-up. This was somewhat offset by the high rate of reoperations required.