Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy

......................................... Received: 22-11-11 Accepted: 06-12-11 Abstract Morbid obesity is the second leading preventable cause of death after cigarette smoking in the world. It is a chronic pathology which requires interdisciplinary management in which bariatric surgery plays a fundamental part. It results in greater weight loss and better maintenance of weight loss than any other treatment in the effort to resolve or diminish secondary comorbidities associated with morbid obesity. One of the surgical tools used for this surgery is sleeve gastrectomy (vertical gastrectomy). This procedure has demonstrated itself to be physiological, effective, and safe for management of this disease. These days it is considered to be a procedure restricted only by the hormonal changes it brings about in orexigenic hormones such as ghrelin, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP1) and peptide YY (PYY). Morbidity and mortality rates for this surgery are very low, but surgical results to date are excellent. This has moved sleeve gastrectomies into an important place within bariatric surgery.