PHILADELPHIA — Morbidly obese patients who undergo laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy may lose significantly more weight in a shorter time period than those who undergo laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, according to a retrospective study of 123 patients.
Both groups had similar rates of complications, although sleeve gastrectomy patients had a significantly longer mean operative time (169 minutes vs. 122 minutes) and mean length of stay in the hospital (2.5 days vs. 1.2 days) than did patients who underwent banding, Dr. Scott Q. Nguyen reported in a poster session at the annual meeting of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons.
Dr. Nguyen and his colleagues at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, reviewed patients in their early to mid-40s (about three-fourths of whom were women) undergoing the procedures at one center during 2003–2007. Of the 123 patients studied, 49 had sleeve gastrectomy and 74 underwent laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding.
The mean body mass index values between the two groups were significantly different at both preoperative and postoperative measurements. For sleeve gastrectomy patients, the mean BMI dropped from 52 to 44 kg/m
Significantly greater values for mean weight loss and mean percentage of excess weight loss were recorded for the sleeve gastrectomy patients than for the banding patients (58 vs. 33 pounds and 30% vs. 25%, respectively).
Overall, there were 6 complications in the sleeve gastrectomy patients and 12 complications in the banding patients.