Nomenclature
Add L for laparoscopic
Obesity is a multifactorial epidemic ailment of environmental origin, affecting subjects from all countries, and whose origins are not in the stomach or intestine. It represents a unique case of surgery to operate healthy organs, which are not the cause of the disease and do not improve after the operation.
Obesity is a multifactorial epidemic ailment of environmental origin, affecting subjects from all countries, and whose origins are not in the stomach or intestine. It represents a unique case of surgery to operate healthy organs, which are not the cause of the disease and do not improve after the operation. Payne3 and Scott4 developed these ID techniques in the 1960s leaving only 14-4 inches (35-10 cm) as an absorptive zone and those were abandoned in the 1970s because of their serious metabolic (malnutrition) and hepatic (liver failure) complications.
Buchwald5 initiated the ID of the last third of the intestine for hypercholesterinemia (POSCH) and showed its protective role at 25 years in the development of atherosclerosis (Fig 1). Now it has also been abandoned, not because of lack of effectiveness, but because of the development of nystatin in the medical control of cholesterol. Dr. Henry Buchwald remains active 67 years later, and in 2012 Barcelona was appointed as Honorary Member of the Spanish Society of Obesity Surgery (SECO) and he will participate in Madrid-IFSO 2019. Baltasar6 published in 1991 the only three ID in Spain for hypercholesterinemia.
First Spanish experience
Prof. Sebastián García Díaz of Seville carried out the 1st Scott-type Jejune-ileal diversion (JID) in the Virgen Macarena Hospital on 11.19.1973. He began bariatric surgery in Spain with 12 cases8-9 and then published 20 more, the 1st work in English by a Spanish author 7 in the World Journal of Surgery in 1981. For this 2nd work he received the award by the Seville Hospital of the Five Sores in 1979 (Figure 2). His work went unnoticed for 40 years until we rescued them in 201311.
There are two Spanish JID done by Drs. Sánchez/Masdevall in Barcelona Bellvitge Hospital on March 1976 and another by Dr. Martínez, Zaragoza Clinic Hospital on July 12, 1978.
Buchwald12 describe (Figure 1) the tree of the development of this surgery in the 1970s with a big malabsorptive and restrictive operation. The evolution of malabsorptive surgery is on the left, and restrictive surgery and gastric bypass (GBP) were reported.
In 1964 Mason13 initiates the GBP. It was a total change in strategy. Capella14, Álvarez-Cordero15 (both first SECO Honorary Members) and Fobi 16 made very important contributions to this technique and many other authors in the 1970s.
Baltasar AB17 performed in June 17, 1977 the first Mason-type GBP in Spain. Vara18, De la Cruz19 and Sitges20 wrote in Spain about ID in hypercholesterinemia and GBP in obesity.
Scopinaro21, a tireless researcher and clinician, initiated experimental and clinical gastrectomy with biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) in 197622,23. He is the leader and "father of European bariatric surgery" and participated in multiple congresses and publications. His combined mixed a technique of gastrectomy plus BPD as the most effective for treating obesity24. He is an Honorary Member of SECO and the only foreign Outstanding Achievement Award winner (OAAW) of the American Association of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).
DBP became a very popular and was a commonly used technique in Spain. Larrad and Sánchez25-28 published extensively on a modification of their own and other authors used this technique in Zaragoza29-32, Santander33,34 and Barcelona.
Mason35 "father of BS" published in 1982,18 patients on vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG) and it was the 1st great revolution by making OS "easy and affordable".
AB (36) in 1984 broadcasts in RTVE the 1st Spanish documentary in MO entitled "JJ Soriano more moral than the Alcoy man". with IMC-52 and that blocked the telephone lines of the hospital. Laporte37 published the 1st Spanish VBG experience in 9 cases.
Reopening of the vertical staple-line was a serious disadvantage of the VBG because it cancels out the restrictive effect of the operation. Baltasar38 in 1989 described the separation with staples between gastric tube and major curvature and did not have a single recanalization in 100 cases. McLean39 used the same technique three years later. Alcoy's Andreo40 describes the typical radiological "peanut deformity" of the VBG.
Many Spanish surgeons performed VBG41,43. Baltasar44 published his first 100 cases in 1990 with excellent results, but 5 years later he reviewed the same patients and describes it as a "frustrated hope"45,46. And two years later this technique was abandoned.
Belachew47,48 in Belgium initiated on 1/09/1993 laparoscopy the 2nd revolution in bariatrics with the 1st laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (LAGB) operation.
Favretti49 performed on Sept 27.1995 the 1st LAGB operation in Spain at Madrid "La Paz" Hospital (Figure 3) assisted by Masdevall / Baltasar
Carbajo50 in 1986 made the 1st 12 BGL in Spain and Alastrué51 compares VBG with BGLA. Thousands of BGLA were done all over the world and then it was abandoned. Laparoscopy changed the way of doing surgery not only in BS but also in all general surgery. Advances in bariatric laparoscopy, being repetitive operations and performed on healthy organs were the greatest advance in XX century surgery.
In the 90's the 1st national bariatric societies were created, starting with the American Society of Bariatric Surgery [ASBS] by Edward Mason on June 3,1983 in Iowa City, IO52, the town he worked all his life. Deitel created Obesity Surgery, as the 1st journal of obesity in 1990 52.
In 1995 the International Federation of Surgery for Obesity (IFSO) is founded and standards53 devised for reporting results.
The Spanish Society of Obesity Surgery (SECO) was founded at Residencia Pérez Mateos, San Juan, Alicante by 26 surgeons on December 12.1976 (Figure 5).
SECO joined IFSO in 1998 and AB became IFSO-2002 president. He organizes and preside IFSO-Salamanca-2003. Dr. Antonio Torres, 2nd Spanish president of IFSO organizes IFSO-2019-Madrid, the world's largest bariatric meeting. Spain will be the 2nd country that organizes this congress twice (Figure 6 and Figure 7).
Wittgrove and Clark in October 27, 200355-57 made the most significant step in performing the 1st laparoscopic gastric bypass (LGBP) in San Diego. This is the 3rd revolution of the BS. AB was the 1st visitor in September 2007 in San Diego, and to our proposal Wittgrove 58 dropped the huge circular #33 port and use the circular stapler without trocar, a very important step in those early times.
We performed the 1st LGBP in Spain on 1.14.199759 and presented it60 at Bruges IFSO-1998 the 1st European to report it on video. Serra61 published in 1999 the 1st world hernia after LGBP. Higa62 made fortunately the 1st LGBPs with manual sutures.
Baltasar63 published the 1st book in Spanish in OS in 2000. Martínez64 from Vitoria published a bilingual BS book (Spanish and Basque) on 2001. De la Cruz65 published in 2006 the 1st book on LGBP in Spain and carried out the 1st surgical session in León. García-Caballero published an English book on diabetes surgery (Figure 8).
In 1988, Hess66 and Marceau67 initiated the duodenal switch (DS), a Sleeve-forming Vertical Gastrectomy (SFVG) plus BPD and Baltasar68 started it on 3.17.1994.
Ren/Gagner69 performed the 1st world LDS in October 1999 and Baltasar on 5.10.200070 the 1st LDS in Europe. (Figure 9). This difficult and controversial technique by the Switchers surgeons, is rarely used today, in less than 1%.
Baltasar71 on 950 patients had a low mortality of 0.4% with LDS and is the most effective technique to lose weight.
There have been many technical variations in laparoscopy. In general, all viscera division is done with auto sutures. The anastomosis is done either with auto sutures or manual ones. We advocate the manual suture starting always with the sliding, self-locking sliding knot Resa and Solano82.
SECO members reported BS surgeries in the early years of OS and SOARD. Spain was the 2nd country with the highest number of publications after the USA in 2005 and 2006 and in 2013 was the 5th country with the highest number of publications in SOARD. (Figure 10 and Figure 11)
SECO members have been very active publishing in OS and SOARD (Figure 8 and Figure 9). Among the SECO founding members there has been a high bibliographic volume (Alcoy-124, Carbajo-76, Belvitge-38, Alastrué-30, Martín-Duce-27, Martínez C.-22, Ballesta-9, Zaragoza-5). In 2003 SECO made the Salamanca Declaration on BS74.
Laparoscopic Sleeve-forming gastrectomy (LSFG), the restriction part of DS, was so described by several authors in 2005. Baltasar LSFG75, according to Ahmad76 is the 61st most cited article in all the bariatric literature. Angrisani77 claims that the LSFG is today the most commonly performed operation in the world.
We start the gastrectomy at the pylorus and suture the gastric anterior and posterior serosa, covering the staples, to prevent rotation of the sleeve and avoid leaks.
Rutledge described 1,274 cases of mini-gastric bypass in 200178 and Spanish authors have developed two popular techniques. Carbajo79 performs since 2004 the lesser curvature reservoir without gastric resection, the one anastomosis OAGB, a GBP with latero-lateral diversion to an intestinal loop. He presented more than 3,500 cases at the 1919s World Congress in Valladolid and is today the fasters growing technique in the world. (Figure 12)
Sánchez and Torres80 at Madrid Clinic Hospital, describe in 2005 the one anastomosis DS or SADI in English. There is gastric resection in the form of SFG and the BPD is done end-to-side at the duodenum (D1). The operation is becoming very popular all over the world. Currently they have more than 350 cases. (Figure 13)
BS at Barcelona Bellvitge hospital has organized 16 consecutive bariatric courses and Torres/Sánchez another 16 annual courses at Madrid Clinic Hospital.
We founded BMI-Latina Journal (Iberoamerican Bariatric and Metabolic) www.bmilatina.com in 2011 as an a online magazine published in Spanish, English and Portuguese. Adopted by SECO in 2015, it should play a valuable role in Spanish and Portuguese speaking BS societies but since 2015 only the abstract is published in English, and that may restrict its dissemination.
In 2009, Scopinaro, Melissas, Fried and AB create the IFSO European Chapter of the Centers of Excellence Program (ECEP). Currently, several Spanish centers and surgeons use this prestigious quality control program.
SECO members have participated in numerous local, regional, national, and international meetings and congresses, especially in Latin American societies where SECO has always been very kindly well received. In May 1998 we organized a table at the meeting of the prestigious course of Prof. Moreno González, with Drs. Cowan, Fobi, Scopinaro, Clark & F.de la Cruz.
In 2003, AB inaugurated the Spring (NYC) and Fall (Chicago) two keynote lectures at the American Congress of Surgery with on DS.
AB received the IFSO-Lifetime Membership Award in June 2011 and was a finalist for the prestigious ASMBS-Outstanding Achievement Award at the ASMBS meeting in Orlando, Florida. (Figure 4)
Diabetes Surgery
Part of the BS is dedicated to diabetes as metabolic surgery. Baltasar80 publishes a successful 1st intervention in 2004 BPD-without-SFG.
Resa and Solano(82) describe 65 cases of gastro-ileal bypass as the simplest, quickest and safest technique we know for treating obesity. And then Resa83 again publishes 1512 more cases. Alhambra84, Vidal85, Vilarrasa86, García87, Cruz88 and Torres89 have published on the same subject.
Laparoscopic OS in Children and Adolescents (ABS)
OS is increasingly used in children. Baltasar90-91 published the 1st national SFG in 2004 on a 10-year-old boy with excellent results 10 years later.
Carbajo92 has a case with 5 years follow-up and then in 2019 again93 reports the more extensive experience in CLONA with 39 patients treated with OAGBP with excellent results.
Vilallonga94 reports that the overweight rate in 4-24 years-old children has increased by approximately 10% in the last 20 years. It is estimated that today, 20% of boys and teenagers and 15% of girls are overweight.
Robotics bariatric surgery
Cadiere and Favretti performed the world's 1st robotic bariatric operation at a distance in 1998. Diez and Blázquez perform the first 12 robotic Spanish bariatric surgeries in Vitoria-2013. Vilallonga (1st accredited robotics surgeon in Spain) and Fort from 2010 in the Hospital Vall d´Hebron in Barcelona develop robotic surgery94 and performed more than 540 cases with the da Vinci (Figura13) Surgical System® (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA) at the beginning with GV and them DG robotics95.
Morales96 performs in Seville the complex single port surgery of since 2012 and today leads the European surgery97. (Figure 14)
A. Lacy initiated AIS-Channel as a pioneering worldwide on-line TV transmission and made the 1st BS remote operation by cellphone G5 from Barcelona Clinic Hospital on 4.14.2019 at the WORLD-VIDEO Forum Barcelona-2019.
Surgeries performed in Spain 2018
1st-Surgeries: 5.952; 2nd-Revision: 343:
Total Complications: LGBP-3.7% and LSFG-3.6%; LGBP-Leaks-1.2%, Bleeding-2.3%, PET-0.1% Re-op-2.3% Exitus-0.1% and in SFG-Leaks-1.5%, Bleeding-1.9% PET-0.1% 2.1% Deaths-0.1%. Extraordinary good results!
Private centers report multiple operations over the years with different techniques: Valladolid-4.255, Teknon-3.000, De la Cruz-2.493, Zaragoza-2.649, Alcoy-1.729.
We should publish all serious complications such as malnutrition97-98, leaks98,100, total gastrectomy’s101, liver failure102-105, stapling of the bougie106, emergency tracheostomy107 and mistakes as the Journal of negatives or non-positive results (JONNPR)108, since it is more likely to learn from negative results than positive ones.
BS is performed in public centers in all regions of Spain with very low leakage and complication rates. But... it is not yet performed on an outpatient basis.
If OM is an epidemic pathology and if CB is the best solution, it should be accessible to more subjects. Duncan109 performs ambulatory BS, and this will be the 4th great bariatric revolution. His A-team uses 2 operating rooms, 2 anesthesiologist nurses, 2 scrub nurses and an operating room technician as an assistant. Operative times of 22´. The surgeon passes to OR-2 with the patient already anesthetized. He changes gloves and do 5 patients in total in the morning. In the afternoon, surgeon-B operates while team-A have consultations. Total 10 patients per day. 50 cases per week, 2,2000 cases per year. No overnight stay. All morning patients are discharged before 14 hours. There is no hospitalization.