Small bowel length in hyperlipidemia and massive obesity

The length of the small bowel was measured during intestinal bypass surgery in 272 patients with obesity undergoing jejunoileal bypass and in 121 nonobese patients undergoing partial ileal bypass for hyperlipidemia. There was no statistically significant difference in either group. Small bowel length was not correlated with the degree of obesity expressed as the percentage of ideal weight. The only statistically significant correlation determined was between sex and bowel length in the obese subjects, where a greater length of small intestine was found in males.