Abstract
BACKGROUND Dietary and lifestyle modifications, which are commonly proposed to overweight or obese youth, lack efficacy in individuals who are severely obese. Early results with bariatric procedures in obese adolescents suggest that weight loss and safety are comparable or better than seen in adults. One of these procedures, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, is commonly performed using multiple ports. METHODS We selected single-port sleeve gastrectomy (SPSG) as a minimally invasive surgery to be tested in severely obese adolescents. Prospective clinical and biochemical data were collected from 16 young severely obese patients who underwent SPSG. The setting was a university hospital. RESULTS The mean age of the cohort was 17.8 years (12 girls, 4 boys). The individuals' average weight was 125.5 kg and their average body mass index was 45.3 kg/m(2). All patients were insulin-resistant and 6 showed hypertriglyceridemia. The median operating time was 66 minutes, and there were no intraoperative complications. No conversion to open surgery was required. No patient required additional trocars and no patient had postoperative complications. The median hospital stay was 3 days. After a one-year follow-up, the average weight decrease was 40.3 kg, resulting in a decrease in excess weight loss by 70.61%. Insulin-resistance decreased in 16/16 patients and hypertriglyceridemia decreased in 5/6 patients. CONCLUSION SPSG seems safe and effective in the short term in severely obese adolescents.
