Longitudinal sleeve gastrectomy as a stand-alone bariatric procedure: Results of a multicenter retrospective study

Introduction. - Sleeve gastrectomy as an isolated procedure is a new option in bariatric surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate its short and medium term (2 years) results in a multicenter setting. Materials. - This is a retrospective study including 446 patients undergoing surgery in 14 teaching, private, and public hospitals. Results. - The immediate post-operative course were uneventful in 83.3% of patients. Minor complications occurred in 10.9% of patients and major complications in 5.3%. Suture line leaks occurred in 4.3% of the whole series. There was no mortality and the rate of reoperation was 2%. Overall mean weight toss after two years was 32 kg and the mean excess weight loss was 62%. Weight toss was significantly greater in non super-obese patients (p = 0.0003). Conclusions. - This study confirms the feasibility of sleeve gastrectomy in a multicenter setting; it is efficacious at two years as an isolated bariatric procedure for non super-obese patients. It is possible that an additional second-stage procedure may be necessary for super-obese patients. (C) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.