Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy: Co-morbidity Profiles and Intermediate-Term Outcomes.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery is effective at achieving sustained weight loss and improving the control and resolution of obesity-related co-morbidities. Most studies that have demonstrated co-morbidity resolution in patients undergoing laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) only follow patients for the short term (less than 1 year) or follow a relatively small cohort (<100 patients) for the intermediate or long term (more than 5 years). We report our experience following a large cohort of morbidly obese patients who underwent LSG with intermediate-term follow-up. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 435 consecutive patients who underwent LSG from January 2004 to November 2013. Co-morbidities investigated included diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HTN), and hyperlipidemia (HL). A co-morbidity was determined to be resolved if the patient was no longer taking any medication to treat that specific co-morbidity. RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 26 ± 25 months (range = 1-112). Mean postoperative total weight loss (%TWL) at 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 months were 23.6, 29.9, 29.5, 25.2, 26.7, 25.4, and 24.3 %, respectively. The incidence of all three co-morbidities was found to be significantly lower at the last patient follow-up. The resolution rates for DM, HTN, and HL were 59, 31, and 50 %, respectively. In patients who continued to have co-morbidities, the mean numbers of medications for DM (1.2 ± 0.7 vs. 0.5 ± 0.7, p < 0.0001), HTN (1.8 ± 1.1 vs. 1.3 ± 1.2, p < 0.0001), and HL (0.9 ± 0.7 vs. 0.6 ± 0.6, p < 0.0001) postoperatively were all significantly less. CONCLUSIONS: LSG is effective at achieving significant and sustained weight loss, improvement in co-morbidity profiles, and a reduction in poly-pharmacy for these conditions over intermediate-term follow-up.