Sleeve Gastrectomy for Morbid Obesity

Abstract

The rising prevalence of morbid obesity and the increased incidence of super-obese patients (BMI >50 kg/m2) seeking surgical treatments has led to the search for surgical techniques that provide adequate EWL with the least possible morbidity. Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) was initially added as a modification to the biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) and then combined with a duodenal switch (DS) in 1988. It was first performed laparoscopically in 1999 as part of a DS and subsequently done alone as a staged procedure in 2000. With the revelation that patients experienced weight loss after SG, interest in using this procedure as a bridge to more definitive surgical treatment has risen. Benefits of SG include the low rate of complications, the avoidance of foreign material, the maintenance of normal gastro-intestinal continuity, the absence of malabsorption and the ability to convert to multiple other operations. Reduction of the ghrelinproducing stomach mass may account for its superiority to other gastric restrictive procedures. SG should be in the armamentarium of all bariatric surgeons. Nonetheless, long-term studies are necessary to see if it is a durable procedure in the treatment of morbid obesity.