In the USA, the annual volume of inpatient bariatric surgery continues to be stable. Utilization of the laparoscopic approach to bariatric surgery remains high, while the in-hospital mortality continues to be low at ≤0.10 % throughout the 4-year period.

Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment for severe obesity with durable 10-year weight loss and improvement in comorbidities and quality of life. Compared with gastric banding, gastric bypass was associated with better long-term weight loss, lower rate of late reoperation, and improved remission of comorbidities.

This national analysis of academic centers showed a low utilization of robotic-assisted laparoscopic elective general and bariatric surgical procedures with the highest utilization for rectal resection. Compared to conventional laparoscopy, there were no observed clinical benefits associated with the robotic approach, but there was a consistently higher cost.

High body mass index (BMI) has been shown to be a factor predictive of increased morbidity and mortality in several single-institution studies. Using the University HealthSystem Consortium clinical database, we examined the impact of BMI on in-hospital mortality for patients who underwent laparoscopic gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and gastric banding between October 2011 and February 2014. Outcomes were examined within each procedure according to BMI groups of 35 to 49.9, 50.0 to 59.9, and 60.0 kg/m2 or greater. Outcome measures included in-hospital mortality, major complications, length of hospital stay, 30-day readmission, and cost. A total of 40,102 bariatric procedures were performed during this time period. For gastric bypass, there was an increase of in-hospital mortality (0.01 and 0.02 vs 0.34%; P < 0.01) and major complications (0.93 and 0.99 vs 2.62%; P < 0.01) in the BMI 60 kg/m2 or greater group. In contrast, sleeve gastrectomy and gastric banding had no association between BMI and rates of mortality and major complications. Cost increased with increasing BMI groups for all procedures. A strong association was found between BMI 60 kg/m2 or greater and higher in-hospital mortality and major complication rates for patients who underwent laparoscopic gastric bypass but not in patients who underwent sleeve gastrectomy or gastric banding.

Sleeve gastrectomy is emerging to be the procedure of choice in the management of severe obesity. The aim of this study was to analyze outcomes between patients who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) versus laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB). A retrospective matched cohort analysis was performed between 150 patients who underwent LSG versus 150 patients who underwent LAGB. The cohorts were matched for age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and preoperative comorbidities. Length of hospital stay (1.6 vs 1.1 days, P < 0.01) was longer in the LSG group. Perioperative complications were similar between groups (4.6% for LSG vs 2.0% for LAGB) but the late complication rate was significantly lower in the LSG group (1.3 vs 8.0%). The 30-day reoperation (0 vs 0.7%) and readmission (1.3 vs 1.3%) rates were similar between groups. There were no 90-day mortalities in the study. The mean reduction in BMI was significantly higher for LSG (-11.9 kg/m2 for LSG vs -6.2 kg/m2 for LAGB, P < 0.01) at 1-year follow-up. The number of medications used to control all comorbidities was significantly lower at follow-up compared with baseline for both groups. The mean reduction in the number medications used to control hypertension was greater in the LSG group (-1.00 ± 0.70 vs -0.35 ± 0.70 medications, P < 0.01). LSG has a perioperative safety profile comparable to that of LAGB but achieved significantly better weight loss and control of hypertension with a lower rate of late complications.