Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: Technique and results

Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) has gained popularity as stand-alone procedure. The objective of this study was to describe the surgical technique and evaluate the outcomes of LSG published in the literature. Twenty-six studies with 1 to 5 years of follow-up after LSG were analyzed. Of the 26 studies, 22 reported patient gender (n=2765) and 69.1% of the patients were women. Mean age of the patients was 41.05 years (22 studies; n=2483 patients). Mean preoperative body mass index in all twenty-four studies was 48.2 kg/m2 (range: 37.2-65.3 kg/m2). Overall mean percentage of excess weight loss after LSG reported in 17 studies was 57.7%. Postoperative complication rate ranged from 0% to 15.3%. Leak rate ranged from 0.7% to 5.1%, and mortality rate ranged from 0% to 1.4%. Eleven studies reported remission rate of postoperative co-morbidity data with follow-up period of 12 to 60 months. Existing data have identified that LSG is comparable to other accepted bariatric procedures, but long-term data is limited.