Increased staple loading pressures and reduced staple heights in laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy reduce...

In laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, tissue thickness and closed staple height of the staple cartridge determine the pressure applied to the tissue. Prior studies have suggested 8 g/mm² to be ideal to minimize leaks or bleeding.

We evaluated the relationship between staple loading pressure applied to gastric tissue and bleeding rate prospectively with a novel tissue measuring device and video-recorded operative findings for 116 patients undergoing laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy performed by 2 surgeons at a single institution. Stapling protocol 1 was used for 64 cases, defined as standard practice, typically using green-blue-blue-blue Ethicon staple cartridges. Stapling protocol 2 was defined as blue-blue-white-white or gold-blue-white-white.

Tissue thickness measurements from 39 cases and staple load selection showed that surgeons preferred a median staple loading pressure of 15 g/mm². Tissue thickness measurements at 15 g/mm² had a mean of 1.86 mm at the antrum, 1.71 mm at the body, and 1.15 mm at the fundus, all significantly thinner than tissue thickness at 8 g/mm². For each 10 g/mm² increase in minimum pressure and maximum pressure value within each cartridge zone, there was a reduction in bleeding rate by 59.8% and 38.7%, respectively. Compared with stapling protocol 1, stapling protocol 2 had a lower intraoperative bleeding rate (90.2% vs 70.7%; P < .0001), usage of preventive hemostatic techniques (100% vs 10%; P < .0001), and hemostatic treatments (66% vs 46%; P = .04). In the 30-day postoperative period, there was 1 bleed in stapling protocol 1; there were no leaks.

Our data suggest using shorter closed staple heights to exert higher staple loading pressures decreases intraoperative bleeding rates in laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy.