BILIOPANCREATIC DIVERSION (BPD)

This operation was described in 1973 by Professor Nicola Scopinaro and is still being performed in Italy and in some centers in the Western Hemisphere. This operation consists of removing a part of the stomach, leaving a 200-500 cc pouch and shortening the small intestinal food conduit to 250cm, leaving a 50 cm common channel in which bile and pancreatic juices mix prior to entering the colon. Weight loss has been satisfactory with this operation, but malabsorptive and nutritional complications have made this an unpopular operation in the United States.