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Routine Trans-Abdominal Ultrasonography Before Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy: the Findings

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Abstract

Although some bariatric guidelines reserve pre-operative trans-abdominal ultrasonography screening for symptomatic patients and those with elevated liver enzymes, there has yet to exist a general consensus regarding this issue. Some centers still employ its use as a vital step in the workup of the bariatric patient. This study aims to observe the prevalent findings on routine pre-operative trans-abdominal ultrasonography when used as a screening tool prior to laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). All patients undergoing LSG were screened pre-operatively with trans-abdominal ultrasonography. A retrospective study was done of the pre-operative ultrasonography results of patients who underwent LSG at Amiri Hospital from 2008 to 2012. A total of 747 patients were included in the study, with a median age of 36 (15–68). Five hundred ninety (79.0 %) patients were females while 157 (21.0 %) were males, with an overall median body mass index (BMI) of 45 (30–90). Two hundred forty patients (32.1 %) had normal pre-operative ultrasonography results, 83 (11.1 %) were found to have gallstones, 427 (57.2 %) had fatty liver, and 55 (7.4 %) had other pathologies. There was no statistically significant association between BMI and gallstones (p = 0.545) and BMI and fatty liver (p = 0.418). Trans-abdominal ultrasonography screening prior to LSG revealed a wide range of findings but does not add significant information to the pre-operative workup of patients undergoing the procedure and should be reserved for indicated patients.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to convey their humble thanks to all those who made this study possible, most notably Ms. Reena Thomas, Mr. Jackson, Dr. Mumtaz, and Dr. Hind Almazeedi.

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Amiri Hospital, Kuwait Ministry of Health, Kuwait City, Kuwait

    Sulaiman Almazeedi & Salman Al-Sabah

  2. Department of Surgery, Farwaniya Hospital, Kuwait Ministry of Health, Kuwait City, Kuwait

    Dheidan Alshammari

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  1. Sulaiman Almazeedi
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  2. Salman Al-Sabah
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  3. Dheidan Alshammari
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Correspondence to Salman Al-Sabah.

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Almazeedi, S., Al-Sabah, S. & Alshammari, D. Routine Trans-Abdominal Ultrasonography Before Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy: the Findings. OBES SURG 24, 397–399 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-013-1092-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-013-1092-y

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