A Randomized Comparison Between Staple-Line Oversewing Versus No Reinforcement During Laparoscopic Vertical Sleeve...

Varieties of intraoperative methods such as oversewing of staple lines or other reinforcement products are used for preventing the laparoscopic vertical sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) complications. The aim of this study is to evaluate the complication rates of the gastric stapling alone versus stapling with oversewing invagination of the staple line in the LSG.

This is a single-center randomized study, Patients were randomized to two groups, 200 patients underwent LSG without reinforcement of the staple line and 200 patients underwent LSG with oversewing of the staple line. All patients were followed up for 1 year. The data collected prospectively for statistical analysis included demographics, BMI, preoperative comorbidities, operative time, complications, and hospital stay.

The overall mean operative age was 33.7 ± 9.4 years and mean BMI was 42.4 ± 4.3 kg/m². Patient baseline characteristics (age, gender, weight, and BMI) and comorbidities were generally a nonsignificant different between the treatment arms. Surgical time was shorter in patients of the nonreinforced group (44.3 ± vs 51.3 ± 4.3 min; p < 0.01) with lower %EWL (73 ± 13.8 vs 80.7 ± 13.6%, p < 0.01). One patient in the nonreinforced group was complicated by gastric leak. The staple-line bleeding rate was significantly lower in patients underwent oversewing of the staple line during LSG (p < 0.05).

Oversewing of the staple line during LSG is a nonexpansive and easy method to decrease the incidence and severity of the postoperative bleeding. However, it is time-consuming and should be performed by experienced surgeons to avoid the complications which may occur secondary to the seroserotomy suturing.