The field of metabolic and bariatric surgery has recently switched from laparoscopic gastric banding (LGB) to laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) as the procedure of choice for weight loss surgery. As LGB has been replaced with LSG many patients who had complications with LGB or failed to loose a satisfactory amount of weight with LGB have had a conversation from their band to a sleeve gastrectomy.
Meticulous dissection takes place when removing a band, as the fibrotic scar capsule that surrounds the band must be resected in its entirety to avoid staple firings across fibrotic tissue rather than healthy gastric tissue. In addition to ensuring a healthy staple line by resecting the fibrotic capsule, we present a case where the band capsule was thought to be removed however was incompletely dissected and caused a postoperative strictured proximal stomach with complete PO intolerance. For this reason, we routinely perform intra-operative endoscopy to ensure the lumen of the stomach is patent prior to staple firing to complete the sleeve gastrectomy in band to sleeve patients.
DOI#: http://dx.doi.org/10.17797/19tn2xjdda