ABSTRACT

In the present study, we aimed to retrospectively evaluate the preoperative characteristics, intraoperative and postoperative results of patients who underwent laparoscopic obesity surgeries.

After obtaining the approval of the Ethics Committee, records of patients who underwent laparoscopic obesity surgery from January 2013 to December 2016 were reviewed. Demographic characteristics, medications used in anaesthesia and analgesia, the duration of recovery unit/hospital stay, intensive care unit/mechanical ventilation requirements and complications were recorded.

A total of 329 ASA II-III patients over a 3-year period were operated. Thiopental and propofol were administered at induction, sevoflurane, isoflurane and desflurane were administered for the maintenance, and vecuronium and rocuronium were administered to aid in neuromuscular blockage. The mean durations of recovery unit and hospital stays were 30.80±6.01 minutes and 4.27±1.68 days, respectively. The hypnotic agent, muscle relaxant or inhalation anaesthetics used did not have a significant effect on the duration of recovery unit and hospital stay. Mask ventilation and intubation were noted to be difficult in 5.5% and 8.5% of the cases, respectively. The presence of obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome and high body mass index and Mallampati scores significantly increased difficult mask ventilation and difficult intubation rates. Four patients were transferred to intensive care unit for close monitoring. Two patients were re-operated on, two patients had rhabdomyolysis, one patient had Wernicke's encephalopathy and two patients had peripheral neuropathy. Perioperative mortality did not occur in any patient.

We believe that appropriate patient selection, the use of well-designed anaesthesia and surgical protocols play important roles in increasing the success rate of patient outcomes and early and late complications in laparoscopic obesity surgery.

Keywords: Obesity surgery, bariatric surgery, laparoscopy, anaesthesia