Is it beneficial performing LEAK test during laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy

Obesity has started to be an important health problem recent era, not only causing serious health problems but also increasing mortality and morbidity of the coincidental diseases. Sleeve gastrectomy is the most commonly performed procedure for surgical management of morbid obesity. Postoperative Staple line leakage is the second most common cause of death after bariatric surgery. There are many techniques for reducing the leak incidence. The aim of our work is investigate the doing routine intraoperative leak test can reduce postoperative leaks. In this study 215 patients included. Patients mean weight is 110 (IQR: 97- 130) kg and median BMI is 39 (IQR: 35-44) kg/m2 . Intraoperative leak test performed for 107 patients. Leak tests performed with 38F bougie and methylene blue dye. After 15-30 second of injection 80-100 ml methylene blue dye in orogastric tube any leaks seen intraoperatively. Median operation time was (115 [IQR: 105-150]) minute for intraoperative leaks test patients, (85 [IQR: 70-110]) minute for other patients (p<0,001). There is no reinforcement suture for step line in any operation. One drainage tube placed to operation area and first day of post operation the tube pull out. Median length of stay at hospital was 3 days. Only one patient had anastomotic leak in none test group. There was no statistical difference between two groups for step line leak complication (p: 0,999). Our study shown that intraoperative leak test increases the operation time and has no benefit for showing the leaks. These results are similar with literature.