Early Complications Post Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy: A Single-Center Experience and Literature Review

Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is a restrictive bariatric surgery that is rapidly being adopted by surgeons worldwide. The aim of this study was to present a single-centered experience evaluating the perioperative safety as well as the learning curve of LSG. We performed a retrospective review of prospectively collected data for all patients who underwent LSG from January 2007 till December 2013. The primary outcome was perioperative complications that lead to a prolonged length of hospital stay or readmission within 1 month of surgery. A total of 456 patients underwent LSG between 2007 and 2013 with a mean age of 35.2 years (+/- 10.45) and a mean body mass index of 41.7 kg/m(2) (+/- 6.7). Mean operative time was 2.8 h with a 0.65% conversion rate. Mean length of hospital stay was 4.87 days. Thirty-day perioperative complication rate was 9.42%. No perioperative mortality occurred. The mean length of hospital stay, operative time, and postoperative complications decreased with the increase in the number of LSGs performed. The only factor associated with complications was prolonged operative time. Our study shows that LSG is a safe procedure with acceptable minimal perioperative morbidity and mortality. Complications reported at our institution were comparable to other international series.