Pilot Study of a New Model of Bariatric Surgery: Laparoscopic Intestinal Bipartition—Safety and Efficacy Against Metabolic Disorders

Despite the availability of many gastric surgery techniques to reduce obesity and its associated comorbidities, most of these procedures can result in life-threatening conditions including lifetime chronic illnesses and death. Vertical sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass have been reported to improve obesity-related comorbidities such as T2DM, but the long-term efficacy of these two procedures is unknown, and their significant impact on long-term weight loss was diminished by complications as reported in previous studies. Recently, laparoscopic biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch (BPD/DS) was developed to achieve sustained weight loss (Buchwald et al. Am J Med. 122:248–56, 2009; Sjöström et al. N Engl J Med. 351:2683–93, 2004) as well as an improvement in comorbid conditions, such as T2DM and hypertension (Buchwald et al. in Am J Med. 122:248–56, 2009; Dorman et al. Surgery. 152:758–65, 2012). The malabsorptive strategy of bypassing portions of the small intestine and delivering nutrients directly to the ileum may promote weight loss by enhanced activation of a negative feedback mechanism known as the “ileal brake” (Näslund et al. J Gastrointest Surg. 5:556–67, 2001). The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the safety, reproducibility, and efficiency of a new surgical bariatric model of laparoscopic intestinal bipartition (LIB) in patients with a BMI between 35 and 40 kg/m². The setting was in university hospitals.

Between January 2011 and September 2012, seven patients were enrolled in the study and underwent the LIB procedure. One patient was operated by LIB for morbid obesity with comorbidities, especially T2DM, without any previous bariatric or gastric surgery. Six patients underwent the surgery after a sleeve gastrectomy for ≥ 4 years with a recurrence of obesity and diabetes.

Laparoscopic intestinal bipartition produced a total recovery from obesity-related comorbidities, especially T2DM and EWL without any signs of nutritional deficiency, although the 5-year follow-up is ongoing in order to demonstrate the efficacy and long-term durability of this procedure.