Background: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is the most preferred technique in morbidly obese patients for weight loss. There is a controversy about the routine preoperative evaluation of the stomach and the routine microscopic examination of all LSG specimens. Our aim is to analyze the results of both preoperative upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and endoscopic biopsies and also the results of histopathological examination of LSG specimens.
Materials and methods: The data of patients who underwent LSG from January 2011 to November 2016 were analyzed retrospectively from a prospectively collected database. Seven hundred fifty five of 819 patients who met the inclusion criteria were included in this study. Data on patients' demographic variables [age, gender, BMI (kg/m2)], preoperative upper GI endoscopy and biopsy results, postoperative histopathological results of the specimens, and the process of the patients with malignant histopathological investigation in the follow-up period were collected.
Results: This study involves 755 patients with a mean age of 39.6 ± 11.7 years and has 496 (65.6%) to 259 (34.4%) female to male ratio. None of the patients harbored macroscopic or microscopic malignant pathological finding in the preoperative assessment. Hiatal hernia was detected in 78 (10.2%) patients and gastric/duodenal ulcers were detected in 52 (6.8%) patients in endoscopy. Incidental malignant and/or premalignant histopathological findings-intestinal metaplasia (1.4%) and malignant lesions (0.5%)-were rarely found in the evaluation of the surgical specimens.
Conclusions: Both preoperative endoscopic assessment and postoperative histopathological examination of the specimen are mandatory in LSG patients.
Keywords: Bariatric surgery; Endoscopy; Histopathology; Sleeve gastrectomy.