Sleeve Gastrectomy Improves LV Systolic Function

Researchers at Siyami Ersek Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Training and Research Hospital (Istanbul, Turkey) conducted a study in 53 obese patients referred for sleeve gastrectomy to evaluate and compare the effects of weight lost after the procedure on left ventricular (LV) systolic function, using both two-dimensional speckle tracking (2D-STE) and three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) prior to and six months after surgery.

The results showed that all patients demonstrated a significant decrease in body mass index (BMI), body weight, blood pressure, heart rate, LV end-diastolic dimension, myocardial wall thickness, LV mass, LV mass index, LV mass/height2.7, LV end-diastolic and -systolic volume, and stroke volume (SV) at six months after surgery. There was no significant difference in measured variables between men and women, except for baseline LV end-diastolic dimension, and baseline and after surgery LV mass, LV mass index, and LV mass/height2.7, which were all significantly higher in men. The study was published early online on April 27, 2016, in the Journal of Clinical Ultrasound.

“Sleeve gastrectomy improves LV systolic function and contributes to reverse LV remodeling in both genders,” concluded lead author Tuğba Kemaloğlu Öz, MD, and colleagues.

Sleeve gastrectomy is a restrictive form of weight loss surgery intended for the morbidly obese, which permanently reduces the size of the stomach by removing the lateral 2/3 of the stomach with a stapling device. While the stomach is drastically reduced in size, function is preserved, with no malabsorption of nutrients and supplements. The procedure avoids the problems associated with bypass forms of weight loss surgery including anemia, intestinal obstruction or blockage, osteoporosis, and protein and vitamin deficiency, and since about 100-200 ml of stomach capacity is maintained, there are very few restrictions on food consumption.

Dividing LV mass by height to the allometric power of 2.7 is the most promising normalization method in terms of practicality and usefulness from a clinical and scientific standpoint for scaling myocardial mass to body size.

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Siyami Ersek Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Training and Research Hospital