Vertical Banded Gastroplasty for Pickwick Syndrome -A Report of Two Cases-

Ryuichi Hamazoe, Yasuro Kurisu, Yasuaki Hirooka, Nobuaki Kaibara, Haruaki Ogawa*

First Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University
*Department of Surgery, Hirose Municipal Hospital

We report two cases of morbid obesity accompanied with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) and obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS). Pulmonary function test and overnight sleep study by polysomno-graphic recording were performed before and after surgery. Satisfactory weight control was obtained without surgical complications after vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG). With the reduction in weight, the symptoms of SAS and OHS, as well as several other complications caused by the severe obesity, disappeared. Quality of life also improved remarkably, as exhibited by activity performance and disappearance of irritability at waking. The improvement in hypoventilation was attributed to a reduction in excessive fatty deposition in the neck and pharyngeal wall, the chest wall and the abdomen. Thus it appeared that VBG is efficacious in the treatment of morbid obesity with sleep apnea and hypoventilation.

Key words
morbid obesity, sleep apnea syndrome, vertical banded gastroplasty

Reprint requests
Ryuichi Hamazoe First Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University
36-1, Nishimachi, Yonago 683 JAPAN

Accepted
November 9, 1994

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