Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy for the Surgical Treatment of Obesity: Is It an Easy Procedure?

Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is currently the most performed bariatric procedure in the world. The 4th International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO) Global registry report (2014-18) estimates 87,015 procedures, equal to 45.9% of all bariatric procedures. Initially performed as the first step of the duodenals witch (biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch (BPD-DS)), a very complex malabsorptive procedure invented by a Canadian Surgeon P. Marceau as an evolution of the BPD, invented by N. Scopinaro, an Italian surgeon, LSG established itself in the early 2000s as a stand alone procedure, especially following the observations of Michael Gagner, pioneer of bariatric surgery. Over the years LSG has grown rapidly. The reasons for this popularity are the relative technical simplicity compared to other procedures, efficacy, good quality. For these reasons there has been a real explosion of bariatric surgery: many surgeons, driven by the relative simplicity of the procedure (longitudinal gastrectomy on the guide of a probe), begun to propose this procedure. So is LSG really an effective simple procedure that is good for all patients? Absolutely not. Performing a longitudinal gastrectomy can be simple; performing a good LSG is not.

Gastric bypass surgery alters behavioral and neural taste functions for sweet taste in obese rats

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery (GBS) is the most effective treatment for morbid obesity. GBS is a restrictive malabsorptive procedure, but many patients also report altered taste preferences. This study investigated the effects of GBS or a sham operation (SH) on body weight, glucose tolerance, and behavioral and neuronal taste functions in the obese Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats lacking CCK-1 receptors and lean controls (LETO). OLETF-GBS rats lost body weight (−26%) and demonstrated improved glucose tolerance. They also expressed a reduction in 24-h two-bottle preference for sucrose (0.3 and 1.0 M) and decreased 10-s lick responses for sucrose (0.3 through 1.5 M) compared with OLETF-SH or LETO-GBS. A similar effect was noted for other sweet compounds but not for salty, sour, or bitter tastants. In lean rats, GBS did not alter responses to any stimulus tested. Extracellular recordings from 170 taste-responsive neurons of the pontine parabrachial nucleus revealed a rightward shift in concentration responses to oral sucrose in obese compared with lean rats (OLETF-SH vs. LETO-SH): overall increased response magnitudes (above 0.9 M), and maximum responses occurring at higher concentrations (+0.46 M). These effects were reversed by GBS, and neural responses in OLETF-GBS were statistically not different from those in any LETO groups. These findings confirm obesity-related alterations in taste functions and demonstrate the ability of GBS to alleviate these impairments. Furthermore, the beneficial effects of GBS appear to be independent of CCK-1 receptor signaling. An understanding of the underlying mechanisms for reduced preferences for sweet taste could help in developing less invasive treatments for obesity.