Routine careful histopathological examination should be performed in sleeve gastrectomy specimens

Abstract

Introduction: The presence of increased ratio of obesity caused a rapid increase of bariatric surgery practice. In this study, our purpose is to clarify the histopathologic findings of the patients who have experienced this type of bariatric surgery and to learn more about the distinguishable features of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) specimens and to contribute to the related literature.

Methods: A retrospective study was designed with the histopathologic findings from pathology specimens of 109 patients who experienced LSG between April 2014 and May 2016. To collect essential data, we used the database system of our institution that contains all of the selected patients for our study.

Results: Overall, the average age was 36.2 years, and 85 were female while 24 were male. The principal histopathologic features were active chronic gastritis in 9, chronic gastritis in 68, atrophy in 5, and intestinal metaplasia in 8 patients. In two patients, gastrointestinal stromal tumor was found and in another patient, neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia was found. In addition to the dominant histopathologic features including chronic and active chronic gastritis, a small percent of patients had clinically significant pathologic findings in the sleeve gastrectomy specimens and this may have an effect on postoperative management and morbidity.

Conclusion: Considering these results, having histopathologic examination of the sleeve gastrectomy specimens as a standard procedure is strongly recommended.