Histopathological findings on resected gastric specimens from obese patients undergoing laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy

Abstract

Background and aims. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between baseline characteristics of obese patients and histopathological findings on resected gastric specimens resulted after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Methods. Seventy-seven patients undergoing laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy in a university surgical department from Romania were included in the present study. Demographic data, preoperative Body Mass Index values, and their relationship with the histopathological findings of resected gastric specimens were statistically analyzed. Results. The mean age of patients included was 40.2 ± 11.05 years and the mean Body Mass Index was 43.5 ± 7.8 kg/m2; 71.4% of the patients were female. Active chronic gastritis was the most common gastric pathology (39%) encountered. Helicobacter pylori infection was present in 27.2% of the cases. Normal gastric histology was found in 33.7% of the specimens. A strong statistically significant association was noted between Helicobacter pylori infection and active chronic gastritis (p<0.0001). Similarly, a statistically significant association was observed between age, Body Mass Index, and intestinal metaplasia (p=0.005 and p=0.009 respectively). No malignancies were found. Conclusions. Our study results show that the incidence of active chronic gastritis and Helicobacter pylori infection is relatively high in obese patients. Considering this, we conclude that it is important to send the resected gastric specimens for histopathological analysis after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy.