Background: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) has become an increasingly popular metabolic surgical procedure. Alteration in motor gastric function is a fundamental feature following LSG but still remains controversial.
Purpose: To determine the gastric emptying time 3 month after LSG, correlations between gastric emptying time and body weight, weight loss, and glycemia levels, alongside determining predictive factors of weight loss at the 3-month follow-up.
Materials and methods: Twenty-one patients were recruited in this study. Gastric emptying time was measured using a standard solid-phase gastric emptying scan at both baseline and 3 months after LSG. Paired sample t tests and a general linear model with repeated measures were applied to investigate the alterations in major parameters after surgery. Univariate analyses were performed to evaluate the factors predicting weight loss at the 3-month follow-up.
Results: Compared with baseline levels, gastric emptying time, body weight, and HbA1c levels decreased significantly at 3 months after LSG (P < 0.001). Significant positive correlations were detected between HbA1c levels and gastric emptying time at baseline (P = 0.03). Significant positive correlations were detected between HbA1c levels at baseline and change in gastric emptying time (P = 0.03). Univariate logistic regression revealed a lower baseline BMI level to be independently associated with %EWL (P < 0.001).
Conclusions: The rate of gastric emptying increased following LSG. Patients with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes at baseline had longer gastric emptying times prior to treatment and significantly shortened emptying times following surgery.
Keywords: Gastric emptying; Glycemic level; Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG); Metabolic surgery; Weight loss.