Background: Currently, there is still a debate about the omentopexy preventive mechanism of sleeve gastrectomy complications. The current study was conducted to evaluate the omentopexy role on the early outcomes after laparoscopic gastric sleeve surgery.
Patients and methods: This prospective randomized study included a total number 172 cases, divided equally into two groups (86 cases for each); the omentopexy (sleeve gastrectomy with omentopexy) and control groups (sleeve gastrectomy only). All cases were subjected for complete pre-operative assessment. Post-operative complications including leakage, bleeding, vomiting, reflux symptoms, and gastric volvulus were recorded.
Results: patient characteristics including age, sex or comorbidities did not significantly differ between both groups. However, the duration of operation showed significant prolongation in the omentopexy group (78.33 vs. 62.47 minutes in controls). No difference was significantly noted between both groups regarding posto-perative complications, apart from gastric twist that was not encountered in our study. Despite that, these complications showed a slight increase in controls. The duration of hospitalization did not differ significantly between the study groups (median = 1 day).
Conclusion: Omentopexy did not have a significant different impact on the prevention of post-sleeve gastrectomy complications although it is associated with longer operative time. However, it may serve as an extra guard against leakage, bleeding, vomiting, and GERD, manifested by the decreased incidence of these complications with that technique.