LAUSR

BACKGROUND Considering the emerging role of the aortic propagation velocity (APV) in the determination of the coronary artery disease (CAD) burden, we hypothesized that laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) could provide improvement in APV in morbidly obese subjects Aims: This study purposed to investigate the impact of LSG on surrogate markers of the atherosclerotic vascular disease such as APV, carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), epicardial fat thickness (EFT) and ankle-brachial index (ABI) in subjects with morbid obesity. METHODS Seventy-one subjects who were scheduled for LSG for standard indications stated by the international guidelines were prospectively enrolled in the study. All subjects underwent transthoracic echocardiography, carotid ultrasonography. Delta (Δ) values were obtained by subtracting sixth-month values from the baseline values. RESULTS LSG led to a significant reduction in body weight and at postoperative 6 months. There was a significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and in triglyceride and LDL cholesterol levels. Moreover, significant reductions in EFT, and CIMT and significant increases in ABI and APV were noted at postoperative six months compared to the baseline measurements. The change in APV was significantly correlated with systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood, EFT, ABI and CIMT. CONCLUSIONS LSG leads to significant improvements in BMI, and CIMT, EFT, ABI, and APV, which are the surrogate markers of atherosclerotic vascular disease, in morbidly obese subjects at postoperative 6 months. The improvement in APV is correlated with the improvement in BMI, CIMT, EFT, and ABI.