Surgery for Morbid Obesity

To the Editor: Hocking et al. concluded that jejunoileal bypass surgery is no longer justified, with the availability of gastric restriction (April 28 issue).¹ However, before gastric restriction is viewed as the best treatment for obesity, better and more detailed long-term follow-up studies are needed. In his editorial in the same issue Alpers correctly indicated that increased life expectancy has not yet been documented in subjects of surgical therapy for obesity.² Since the mortality rate of the obese is usually the reason given to justify surgical treatment,^3,4 these follow-up studies are critical. Until that time, perhaps more care should be.