Background

Staple line bleeding continues to be one of the most frequent complications in bariatric surgery, most specifically laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. We present an easy, cost-effective alternative to the many described in the literature.

Methods

A case-series study of 115 patients who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) was performed between august 2023 and december of 2023 in 4 private hospitals in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Initial patient data included age, BMI, previous diseases and surgeries, length of surgery, and staple height. After surgery, we measured length-of-stay, as well as readmission and reoperation.

Results

A total of 115 bariatric procedures were performed between august and december 2023. Among these patients a female patient was readmitted 6 weeks later and converted to a single anastomosis gastric bypass due to dysphagia; no leak or bleeding were found in her CT or endoscopic studies. No patient had length of stay longer than 24 hours, and no readmissions or reoperations took place. The mean operative time was 19.36 minutes.

Conclusions

Hemostatic control in laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy surgery with monopolar energy proved to be effective in the reduction of reoperations/readmissions. Surgical time is also considerably shorter although we need further studies comparing groups using other hemostatic techniques such as suturing, use of buttressing material, surgical hemostatics, etc. This is our initial experience with this technique, and we hope to publish results in the near future.