Background

Sleeve Gastrectomy (SG) is an effective procedure with remarkable weight loss and low complication rates. However, up to 30% of cases require revisional surgery in non-responders or patients who experience weight recurrence. We aim to report the rate of weight recurrence/non-responders (WR/NR) in patients who underwent SG and had more than 5 years of follow-up.

Methods

We performed a multicenter retrospective study of patients who underwent SG from 2008-2017. Patient demographics, and weight loss outcomes up to 12 years after SG were collected. Surgical non-responders were defined as <20% of total body weight loss (%TBWL) over total follow-up period. Weight recurrence was defined as >20% weight regain compared to maximum weight loss. A chi-square test for categorical variables and a two-sample t-test for continuous variables were used. Data are summarized as mean± standard deviation.

Results

From a total of 1263 patients, we included 339 patients (78% female, age 47.3± 11.2 years; baseline weight 125.8± 27.6 kg) with at least 5 years of follow-up (mean follow-up of 7.1± 1.8 years) (Table 1). Surgical non-response was demonstrated in 15.9% of patients (n=54) and 64.0% (n=217) had weight recurrence after SG (Figure 1). There was a statistically significant difference in history of hypertension (p=0.046) and diabetes (p=0.032) as well as %TBWL at 1 year (p=0.005) and at longest follow-up (p<0.001) between patients who experienced WR/NR and those who did not.

Conclusions

Only 20% of patients who underwent SG and followed-up for more than 5 years were able to maintain appropriate weight loss.