Routine Upper Gastrointestinal Fluoroscopy Before Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy: Is It Necessary?

Controversy exists regarding the clinical utility of routine preoperative upper gastrointestinal (GI) fluoroscopy in morbid obese patients undergoing laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). The aim of our study was to determine the efficacy of these studies in detecting hiatal hernias (HH).

The institution's prospectively maintained, IRB-approved database was retrospectively queried to identify all consecutive patients who underwent LSG between 2011 and 2017. All patients underwent routine preoperative upper GI fluoroscopy. Reports from all imaging studies were retrospectively reviewed and compared to the presence of an intraoperative HH.

During the study period, a total of 1810 patients (854 males, 956 females) underwent LSG at our institution. Mean age was 40.95 ± 13 years (range 11-75), and mean BMI was 42.8 ± 5 kg/m² (range 30-86). The overall prevalence of HH was 11.1% (201 patients). All HHs detected were repaired. Considering the intraoperative identification of HH the gold standard for diagnosis, the sensitivity and specificity of preoperative UGI fluoroscopy for HH detection were 32% (66/201) and 94% (1512/1609), respectively. The median operative time was significantly longer when concomitant LSG and HH repair was performed compared to LSG alone (76 min vs. 55 min, p < 0.001, respectively). The foreknowledge of HH had no influence on the median operative times (77 min vs. 75 min, predicted vs. incidental, respectively, p = 1.34). HH repair did not affect the complication rate (p = 0.3).

Routine preoperative upper GI fluoroscopy holds a low sensitivity for HH detection. Health policy regulators should consider omitting this exam from routine preoperative evaluation for bariatric patients.