Robotic sleeve gastrectomy for morbid obesity: report of a 5 year experience

Background Robotic bariatric procedures are nowadays in the surgeon's arsenal for the treatment of morbid obesity. With proven efficacy and advantages in gastric bypass procedures, we attempted to employ robotics and study the results in the other major bariatric procedure, sleeve gastrectomy. Methods We used the da Vinci S (R) system to perform 19 robotic sleeve gastrectomies (RSGs) and reviewed the 5-year results as far as excess body weight loss is concerned, and amelioration of obesity-related comorbidities. Results Mean percentage of excess body weight loss (%EWL) was 64.4%, 67.1%, 61.7%, 63.1%, 64.8% for the first, second, third, fourth and fifth year, respectively. Neither of our two patients with diabetes mellitus (0%) or hypertension (0%) showed remission, while all six of our patients (100%) showed remission of their sleep apnoea after 5 years. Conclusions Robotic sleeve gastrectomy is an effective procedure as far as initial excess weight loss is concerned and this loss is well maintained 5 years post-operatively, a finding similar to relevant data after conventional laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Copyright (C) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.