Specialty: Bariatric Surgery

A laparoscopic approach was used to evaluate and manage hemoperitoneum that occurred in a 50 year-old woman who had undergone recent sleeve gastrectomy complicated by pulmonary embolism and hemoperitoneum.  This case illustrates an important complication of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, the usefulness of laparoscopy for managing complications of bariatric surgery, and the challenge of laparoscopy in an peritoneum filled with a significant quantity of blood.

Authors: Donald Q Brubaker, BA – West Virginia University.  Nova Szoka, MD – West Virginia University.