A comparison of the outcomes revision of the Roux-en-Y and Mini-Gastric Bypass: hard vs. easy

The Mini-Gastric Bypass (MGB) is growing in popularity. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RNY) is one of the most common forms of bariatric surgery. The purpose of this paper was to review some of the recent research reporting outcomes of RNY and MGB and to compare the reported results with special attention to leak and complication rates after revision of MGB and RNY. Although there are reports of RNY with good outcomes, many reports document RNY to be a technically difficult procedure with reported complication rates as high as 10% to 30%. In review of recent papers, revision of RNY was associated with roughly double the rate of leaks and complications compared with primary RNY: 20% to 40%. RNY is one of the most commonly performed forms of bariatric surgery. Primary RNY and RNY revision are technically challenging, with moderately high reported leak and complication rates. Numerous studies of MGB have reported the operation to be straightforward with low risk of complications, leak, or bile reflux. Reports of complications or leak after MGB revision are also quite low, and revision is reported to be “easily done.”