Histologic and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy Specimens Performed for Morbid Obesity.

CONTEXT.­: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) has quickly become the bariatric surgical procedure of choice for patients with obesity who have failed medical management. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy results in a gastric remnant that is routinely subject to pathologic examination. OBJECTIVE.­: To perform a histologic and cost-benefit analysis of gastric remnants post-LSG. DESIGN.­: All LSG cases performed at University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, between 2010 and 2019 were reviewed. Specimens that underwent routine histopathologic assessment and ancillary immunohistochemical analysis were analyzed. Baseline patient characteristics and surgical outcomes were obtained from our internal database. The total cost of specimen gross preparation, examination, sampling, and producing and reporting a hematoxylin-eosin slide was calculated. RESULTS.­: A total of 572 patients underwent LSG during the study period and had their specimens examined histologically. A mean of 4.87 blocks generating 4 hematoxylin-eosin slides was produced. The most common histologic findings reported in LSG specimens ranged from no pathologic abnormalities identified together with proton pump inhibitor-related change. A minority of cases demonstrated clinically actionable histologic findings, of which Helicobacter pylori infection was the most common. The total cost for the complete pathologic analysis of these cases amounted to CaD $66 383.10 (US $47 080.21) with a mean of CaD $116.05 (US $82.40) per case. A total of CaD $62 622.75 (US $44 413.30) was spent on full examination of cases that had no further postoperative clinical impact. CONCLUSIONS.­: There is a broad spectrum of pathologic findings in LSG specimens, ranging from clinically nonactionable to more clinically actionable. The vast majority of histologic findings had no clinical impact, with only a minority of cases being clinically significant. This study therefore recommends that LSG specimens be subject to gross pathologic examination in the vast majority of cases. However, sections should be submitted for microscopic analysis if grossly evident lesions are present and if there is a clinical/known history of clinically actionable findings.

Review of pathology and cost benefit analysis of hernia sacs processed over a 19-year period.

AIM: Hernia sacs with pathological evaluation over a 19-year period were analysed with regards to pathological diagnoses, full costing and the impact on patient management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The database of the Department of Pathology were searched over the study period (2001 to 2019 inclusive) for hernia sacs. The total cost of complete pathology examination was calculated on average numbers and rates of pay that existed over the study period. RESULTS: A total of 3619 hernia sacs from the abdominal, hiatus/diaphragmatic, inguinal and femoral hernias were retrieved. Of these 3592 cases (99.25%) had sections taken for histological evaluation. A total of 3437 cases representing 95.7% of all hernia sacs did not show any pathological abnormality. If non-neoplastic clinically insignificant lesions seen in hernia sacs is included, then 3552 of 3592 (98.9%) hernia sacs underwent full pathological evaluation for no patient benefit.On average two blocks or tissue sections per case were processed incurring a technical cost of $53 175.00. The total pathologist cost in reporting the 3592 cases was approximately $39 870.00 and rose to $40 410.00 when interpretation of ancillary tests was factored in. $95 328.90 (average $26.90 per specimen with a yearly average total cost of $5 017.31) was spent over the 19-year period in full pathological examination of 3592 hernia sacs. CONCLUSION: Given the low return on investment and the difficult to quantify time savings and reallocation, we do not advocate the routine sampling of hernia sacs. Gross examination will suffice in 99% of the cases. Selective cases may be sampled if clinically indicated.