Gastrointestinal Surgery for Obesity: A Question of Life and Death and Expertise

The first surgical operation for treating obesity was a jejunal-ileal (JI) bypass procedure, performed in the early 1950s. Although this procedure resulted in considerable weight loss, it also caused many serious medical complications, including those involving the gastrointestinal tract (eg, steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, gallstones, severe malabsorption, diarrhea, and colonic pseudo-obstruction) and other organ systems (eg, arthritis, osteoporosis/osteomalacia, and renal disease). The frequency and severity of postoperative complications led to the abandonment of the JI bypass as a therapeutic option for obesity.