[The development of bariatric surgery and the role of the First Surgical Clinic of the General Medical School Hospital and the First Medical School of Charles University in Prague in this specialty].
The authors discuss the development of bariatric surgery in Europe and the USA from its beginnings at the onset of the fifties. More detailed attention is paid in particular to the development of the method of gastric bandings and the role at the First Surgical Department in this field in "classical" as well as miniinvasive surgery. Results of gastric banding are summarized in 683 patients operated since 1983, in particular the numbers of early and late complications after laparotomies and laparoscopic operations, similarly as complications which are directly associated with gastric banding itself. In the conclusion it is stated that the First Surgical Department of the General Faculty Hospital and First Medical Faculty Charles University in Prague belong as regards their results in surgical treatment of obese subjects and the position in the field of bariatric surgery on an international scale to the foremost departments in this field worldwide.