Gastric bypass surgery for obesity: weight loss, psychosocial outcome, and morbidity one and three years later.

In two nonoverlapping cohorts of consecutive patients receiving gastric bypass for obesity, we interviewed 100 patients one year after operation and 60 patients at three years. Weight loss among patients in both cohorts averaged 45 kg; all had improved physical and emotional health, had stable marriages, and had made satisfactory eating adjustments. Factors contributing to successful outcome include the technical skill and experience of the surgical team, adequate preoperative patient preparation, extensive postoperative instruction, medical and dietary follow-up, and patient support groups. Gastric bypass was found to be a safe, effective procedure without the medical morbidity associated with jejunoileal bypass.