Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty safe in children, adolescents
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Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty was found to be safe and effective in children and adolescents with obesity, according to data published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
“We incorporated [endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty] into our standardized pediatric bariatric clinical pathway with a few modifications,” Aayed Alqahtani, MD, FRCSC, FACS, an associate professor of surgery at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and colleagues wrote. “Patients were offered enrollment in our pediatric weight loss program if their BMI was higher than the 95th percentile for age and sex.”
Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) was performed on a day-case basis. The first follow-up visit was assessed 2 weeks after ESG, and monthly follow-ups were planned for the first year.
According to the study, the 109 children and adolescents who underwent ESG had an average age of 17.6 years (91.7% girls) and all of Middle Eastern descent. Of these patients, 14 adolescents visited the ambulatory clinic for analgesia, one requested removal of endoscopic stitches due to abdominal pain and one underwent redo-ESG after one year due to weight regain. No adverse events, bleeding, mortality or unplanned admission were recorded in this study.
Results showed that ESG was a safe option for children and adolescents with obesity. ESG demonstrated significant and sustained weight loss with the mean BMI dropping from 2kg/m2 to 1.3 kg/m2 9 months after the procedure. The ESG group lost 80% of excess weight during the first year following the procedure.
“It seems that ESG can be safely positioned between bariatric surgery and medical management of obesity in multidisciplinary pediatric obesity management algorithms,” Alqahtani wrote. “We recommend including ESG as a potential treatment option for children and adolescents with obesity.” – by Erin T. Welsh
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