Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy--influence of sleeve size and resected gastric volume.

Background: Although the efficacy of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) for morbidly obese patients with a BMI of <50 kg/m2, the incidence of weight gain by change of eating behaviors, and gastric dilatation following LSG have not been investigated thus far, LSG is becoming more common as a single-stage operation for the treatment morbid obesity.

Methods: This is a prospective study of the initial 120 patients who underwent isolated LSG. Initially, the LSG was performed without a calibration tube and resulted in high sleeve volumes (group 1: n=25).

The Bariatric Quality of Life index: a measure of well-being in obesity surgery patients.

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is considered to be the true measure for the effectiveness of a surgical procedure, but there are only a few validated instruments available for bariatric surgery. Therefore, a new diseasespecific 30-item instrument was created, which was called Bariatric Quality of Life (BQL) questionnaire.

Methods: To validate the BQL, we studied 133 patients after 4 different types of bariatric surgery.

New advances in laparoscopic treatment of morbid obesity.

The prevalence of obesity in the United States (U.S.) is increasing to epidemic proportions.