Efficacy of endoscopic resuturing versus pharmacotherapy to treat weight recidivism after endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty

Background and Aims: A subset of patients experience weight recidivism after primary endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (P-ESG). Available options for management of weight regain include initiation of antiobesity medications (AOMs) or redo ESG (R-ESG). The comparative effectiveness of these options is not clear. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained database of patients undergoing ESG. From 2013 to 2021, 79 patients who were started on AOM or underwent R-ESG for management of weight recidivism after P-ESG were included. The primary outcome of this study was final total body weight loss (TBWL) at the end of follow-up. Results: Fifty-five patients were started on AOM and 24 patients underwent R-ESG. Age, gender distribution, and baseline body mass index did not differ significantly between groups. The proportion of noncompliant patients (defined as patients who missed their first post-ESG follow-up visit) was significantly higher in the AOM group compared with the R-ESG group (67% vs 35%, P = .012). The additional TBWL after R-ESG was significantly (both clinically and statistically) better than after initiation of AOM (9.5% +/- 7.2% vs 2.1% +/- 8.6%, respectively; P = .001). Final TBWL clearly favored R-ESG over AOM for treatment of weight recidivism (19.9% +/- 10.4% vs 13.6% +/- 9.2%, P = .028). Conclusions: R-ESG is an effective treatment to induce weight loss after experiencing weight recidivism. These results highlight an important advantage of ESG as a repeatable minimally invasive procedure.