Efficacy of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy for the treatment of obesity in a non-Western society.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to analyze the mid-term outcomes of sleeve gastrectomy in a cohort of obese patients. METHODS: We analyzed the outcomes of 159 adult patients who had laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy between January 2011 and January 2015 in our center. Data collected included patient demographics, presence of comorbid diseases, preoperative body mass index, percent excess weight loss, resolution of comorbid diseases, morbidity and in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: We achieved a 24th month percent excess weight loss of 75.1 ± 10.5. Remission of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome after sleeve gastrectomy was as high as 84, 63.9, 75.8 and 93 %, respectively, in different studies. Our results in diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidemia are comparable with other data on the improvement of comorbidites after sleeve gastrectomy. We found less improvement in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in our cohort when compared to other reports. CONCLUSIONS: Sleeve gastrectomy is an efficient, durable technique for the treatment of obesity and associated comorbidities in all body mass index subgroups of obese population. For better outcomes, strategies for proper education and certification are needed.

Thyroid nodules with atypia or follicular lesions of undetermined significance (AUS/FLUS): analysis of variables associated with outcome.

BACKGROUND: The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology is one of the main classification systems for thyroid nodules. It expects that 7% of all fine needle aspiration biopsies will be reported as atypia or follicular lesions of undetermined significance, and 5-15% of these undetermined nodules are malignant. Our study is a retrospective analysis of variables that may be associated with outcome in patients with indeterminate thyroid nodules. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients who underwent thyroidectomy in our institution between 2010 and 2014 were retrieved from the institutional records database. Patient demographics and medical histories were recorded. All ultrasonography reports were examined for nodule features and biochemical blood levels, hormone levels and complete blood counts were recorded. RESULTS: A total of 103 patient cytopathology reports were regarded as belonging to the undetermined category. Some 35% of patients had malignant nodules. Median preoperative red cell distribution width (RDW) level was 13.6 inthe benign group, while it was 14.3 in patients with malignancy, demonstrating a significant correlation (p=0.003). Only calcification presence was significantly different between benign and malignant groups on ultrasonography (p=0.034). CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasonography is one of the primary tools for this matter. RDW levels may become another promising tool to predict malignancy.