Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: perioperative outcomes, weight loss and impact on type 2 diabetes mellitus over 2 years.

Sleeve gastrectomy was initially performed as the first part of a 2-step approach in superobese (body mass index [BMI] > 50) patients. Weight loss incurred from this procedure would facilitate a subsequent duodenal switch.1 Several groups, however, reported adequate, sustained weight loss following the sleeve.2,3 The ability to perform this procedure laparoscopically contributed to the enthusiasm for the sleeve gastrectomy as a final procedure for the treatment of morbid obesity.4 Being a fairly novel procedure, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) lacks long-term data, but short-term and intermediate results confirm its effectiveness at inducing and maintaining weight loss and addressing obesity-related comorbidities.5,6 Although infrequent, complications related to LSG — especially staple line leak —remain a concern. In this paper we review our experience with LSG in terms of perioperative outcomes, weight loss and impact on type 2 diabetes mellitus over 24 months of postoperative follow-up.