Early post-operative complications: incidence, management, and impact on length of hospital stay. A retrospective comparison between laparoscopic gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy.

Background: Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) are the most common obesity surgeries. Their early complications may prolong hospital stay (HS).

Methods: Data for patients who underwent LRYGB and LSG in our clinic from 2009 through August 2012 were collected. Early post-operative complications prolonging HS (>5 days) were retrospectively analyzed, highlighting their relative incidence, management, and impact on length of HS.

Results: Sixty-six patients (4.9 %) after 1,345 LRYGB operations vs. 49 patients (7.14 %) after 686 LSG operations developed early complications. This difference is statistically significant (p = 0.039). Male gender percentage was significantly higher in complicated LSG group vs. complicated LRYGB group [23 patients (46.9 %) vs. 16 patients (24.2 %)] (p = 0.042). Mean BMI was significantly higher in the complicated LSG group (54.2 ± 8.3) vs. complicated LRYGB group (46.8 ± 5.7; p = 0.004). Median length of HS was not longer after complicated LSG compared with complicated LRYGB (11 vs. 10 days; p = 0.287). Leakage and bleeding were the most common complications after either procedure. Leakage rate was not higher after LSG (12 patients, 1.7 %) compared with LRYGB (22 patients, 1.6 %; p = 0.304). Bleeding rate was significantly higher after LSG (19 patients, 2.7 %) than after LRYGB (10 patients, 0.7 %; p = 0.004). Prolonged elevation of inflammatory markers was the most common presentation for complications after LSG (18 patients, 36.7 %) and LRYGB (31 patients, 46.9 %).

Conclusions: LSG was associated with more early complications. This may be attributed to higher BMI and predominance of males in LSG group.