BACKGROUND: According to the hypothesis of long bowel, the length of small intestine is related to obesity. There are evolutionary, anatomics, neuroendocrines evidences in favor of this assertion. AIM: To check the measure of the small intestine length in overweight patients submitted to bariatric surgery and to analyze the correlation between the intestine size and Body Mass Index (BMI). METHODS: The sample was composed of 30 patients of Hospital Universitário Evangélico de Curitiba, Obesity Service, which had been submitted to bariatric surgery in the period between March and June, 2009. These patients previously had been evaluated, according to their weight, height and BMI. The surgical technique was Fobi-Capella. The measurement of small bowel was carried through the Treitz angle towards the ileocecal junction, during the operation. The instrument used was an intestinal manipulation clamp, which was marked with the measure of 10 cm. The intestinal handles had been measured in the anti-mesenteric edge, applying minimum tension necessary to rectify them. The data were statistically correlated and automatically tabulated, using the Pearson correlation method. RESULTS: The average intestinal length for males was 582,5 cm and for 509,1 cm, medium length 528,7 cm. Pearson correlation coefficient, confirmed the absence of correlation between BMI and the intestinal length. CONCLUSION: The medium length of small intestine was 528,7 cm and it did not have correspondence to BMI.
Obesity; Bariatric surgery; Body Mass Index; Long bowel; Intestinal length
