Surgical treatment of obesity
The interest in inducing weight loss by an intestinal shunt technic continued because of the well recognized hazards of severe obesity and the ineffectiveness of all current weight reduction programs to maintain a near normal body weight after initial weight loss.
Abstract
Intestinal bypass in the form of jejunocolic shunt as a technic to induce weight reduction in man has been reported by several authors [I-51. The course of weight loss in these patients was complicated by intractable diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, electrolyte depletion, and liver failure. In accord with the plan adopted before our first study was undertaken in 1956, intestinal continuity was re-established when the desired weight was reached or when electrolyte disturbance required it. Weight gain to preshunt levels occurred promptly in all subjects whose intestinal continuity was restored to normal. For these reasons, this approach, jejunocolic shunt, was abandoned. Our interest in inducing weight loss by an intestinal shunt technic continued because of the well recognized hazards of severe obesity and the ineffectiveness of all current weight reduction programs to maintain a near normal body weight after initial weight loss. We and others have tried to develop a technic which could be applied with safety and would avoid the necessity of a second operation to restore intestinal continuity with consequent serious weight gain [6,7]. Several levels for the intestinal shunt were tried with limited success. We are gratified with the present combination, which is 14 inches of jejunum and 4 inches of ileum.