Laparoscopic Revision for Gastric Clipping: a Single Center Experience and Taiwan Database Review

Laparoscopic gastric clipping (LGC) is a relatively novel restrictive bariatric surgery wherein a horizontal metallic clip is applied to the gastric fundus. Its intraoperative complications or the difficulties associated with the applied gastric clip (GC) during revisional procedures have seldom been mentioned. Herein, the experience of revisional procedures after initial gastric clipping is reported.

A retrospective cohort review of LGC based on the Taiwan Bariatric Registry of Taiwan Society Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery was performed. Six patients with severe obesity presented for revisional surgery after initial LGC by other surgeons. Patients’ characteristics, indications, and details of revisional surgery were recorded.

Between 2012 and 2019, 39 patients who underwent pure LGC and six patients with previous LGC history were referred for revisional surgery. Their mean age and the mean body mass index were 34.7 ± 9.5 years and 38.4 ± 10.5 kg/m², respectively. Three, two, and one patient underwent revisional surgery for insufficient weight loss, weight recidivism, and intractable belching, respectively. The mean interval between initial LGC and revisional surgery was 40.5 ± 22.4 months. Laparoscopic removal of the GC with concomitant revisional surgeries were collected, including a revision to sleeve gastrectomy (n = 5) and revision to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (n = 1). Moreover, the mean operative time was 286.8 ± 78.2 min. All patients had uneventful recovery postoperatively but experienced significant adhesion around the GC and the left liver.

Laparoscopic revisional surgery with concomitant GC removal for patients with severe obesity after gastric clipping could be feasibly conducted by experienced bariatric surgeons.