Incidence rate and implications of splenic ischemia during sleeve gastrectomy and its related procedure

Splenic ischemia (SI) is a common finding during sleeve gastrectomy (SG) procedures; however, reports are still lacking. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed our SG patients to understand better the incidence rate and implications of SI. Patients' data from the beginning of the year 2021 until December 2022 that underwent bariatric surgery at our university hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Patient surgery video was reviewed by all the authors to investigate the incidence of SI. Thereafter, the corresponding patient age, height, weight, BMI, and their postoperative day 1 (POD1) temperature and blood routine test results (patients were routinely discharged at POD2) were collected and analyzed. 204 patients were included in this study. The mean age and preoperative BMI were 31.7 ± 7.4 years old and 38.8 ± 5.6 kg/m2, respectively. SI was observed in 18 cases (8.8%). 30-day readmission rate was seen in 3 patients (1.5%, all without SI during the primary surgery). There was no statistical difference with regard to the POD1 temperature and blood test results between the patients with and without SI. The incidence of SI during sleeve gastrectomy-related procedures is a common finding in our study. We did not observe significant differences postoperatively between the patients with and without SI before discharge. Further study is needed to understand the mechanism for the incidence of SI during SG.