title: Vertical banded gastroplasty: 6 years experience at a center in Poland.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG) has been performed in our department as a restrictive operation for treatment of morbid obesity. We assessed efficacy, safety, and quality of life (QoL) after VBG, based on our 6-year experience.
  
  
  METHODS
  101 patients with >1 year follow-up who underwent VBG between January 1998 and May 2003, were retrospectively studied. Mean age was 41 years, and mean preoperative BMI was 51.3 kg/m2. Almost 60% of the patients suffered from hypertension, and 25% were diabetic. Postoperative QoL was determined with the BAROS questionnaire. Data concerning weight loss and co-morbidities were collected during the postoperative visits.
  
  
  RESULTS
  87.2% of patients achieved > or = 50% EWL. 86 patients (85.2%) responded to the BAROS questionnaire. >90% of the patients analyzed according to BAROS, reported improvement in QoL after VBG. No patient reported deterioration in health or well-being after the VBG. Anti-hypertensive medication was discontinued in 26 patients (56.5%) and decreased in the other 15 hypertensive patients (32.6%). 35% of diabetic patients did not require further treatment, while a further 40% had their insulin doses decreased or were switched to oral drugs. Early complications occurred in 4.65%, and consisted of an evisceration, pulmonary embolus and gastric leak. Late complications occurred in 20.9%, and included bleeding from peptic ulcer, incisional hernia, stomal stenosis and staple-line disruption (3.5%). There have been no deaths.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  VBG provided significant weight reduction and improved QoL in the vast majority of morbidly obese patients. Patients with diabetes and hypertension benefitted because these co-morbidities were improved or disappeared with the weight loss.
authors.affiliation: Department of General, Oncologic and Thoracic Surgery, Central Clinical Hospital, Military Institute of Medicine, Warsaw, Poland. kpasnik@neostrada.pl
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pasnik
authors.forename: Jaroslaw
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krupa
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stanowski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015391:Gastroplasty / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000502:physiology*