We appreciate the interest shown for the article “Simplified laparoscopic gastric bypass. Initial experience” (Bypass gástrico laparoscópico simplificado. Experiencia inicial)1. We respond to the observations made by Zerrweck-López.
We have read with pleasure the documents he refers to, which are incorrectly quoted, and Zerrweck-López is completely right in saying that the origin of the “Simplified gastric bypass” must be acknowledged to Dr. Hans Lönroth, who was the person who perfected this technique2,3 and Dr. Cardoso made it known to the public and spread it in Latin America.
We have to emphasise that in our article we do not attribute its origin to Dr. Cardoso, but rather, we take him as a reference. By mentioning the disposition of the work ports, the purpose is to show that Dr. Cardoso uses 5 ports, unlike Dr. Hans Lönroth, who uses 7 ports in the original description3. Likewise, we agree on affirming that the conversion from an Omega of Braun to a Roux-en-Y with the linear stapler is the reason why this procedure has been called “simplified,” as we mentioned in the material and methods section of our work1.
We thank Zerrweck-López for his valuable contribution to the knowledge of the bariatric surgery history, and for his observations, which have been taken the best way possible in favour of everyone who is dedicated to this branch of surgery and we reaffirm our satisfaction by knowing that our work has generated interest in Zerrweck-López.
Please cite this article as: Hernández-Miguelena L. et al. «Bypass gástrico laparoscópico simplificado. Experiencia inicial». Cirugía y Cirujanos. 2015; 83: 89.