BACKGROUND: Vertical gastrectomy is an option to morbid obesity treatment.Removing a relevant part of the stomach's great curvature, a gastric tube is created with low volumetric capacity, giving to the operation the restrictive characteristic. AIM: To evaluate the patients submitted to vertical gastrectomy regarding gender, age, body mass index, associated comorbidities, time of hospitalization and evolution on the early postoperative period. METHODS: This was a descriptive and retrospective study that analyzed the medical records of 114 morbidly obese patients submitted to vertical gastrectomy. RESULTS: A hundred and seven (93,8%) of the patients were male and the average age was 38 years old. The body mass index was 45,9 kg/m². About the time of hospitalization, there was a minimum of 3 and maximum of 48 days. The main comorbidity was systemic arterial hypertension (63%). About the evolution after the surgery, 24 patients (21%) needed intensive care and four patients died (3,5%). CONCLUSIONS: Vertical gastrectomy constitutes a safe and effective method to the weight loss on morbid obeses, being a surgical technique with low morbimortality and good immediate surgical results.
Obesity; Body mass index; Gastroplasty