Can Left Pleural Effusion Be an Indicator of Gastric Leaks after Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy?

Background: Coincidental pleural effusion has been observed by computed tomography (CT) scans in individual patients with gastric leaks after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy; however, the frequency of this phenomenon has not been investigated in cohort studies. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of left pleural effusion as an indicator of gastric leaks after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Setting: University hospital and bariatric surgery center of excellence. Methods: This single-center retrospective analysis included consecutive patients who had undergone laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy followed by CT scans to investigate suspected gastric leaks from September 2011 to September 2018. The sensitivity, specificity, Youden’s index, and predictive values were estimated using a 2 × 2 cross-tabulation. Results: The study involved assessing the CT scans of 148 patients; 80 patients (44 men and 36 women, mean age: 34 years, mean body mass index {BMI}: 46 kg/m²) had positive findings of gastric leaks after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, such as contrast leak, gas leak, and peri-gastric collection (either singly or in combination). The CT findings were negative for gastric leaks in 68 patients (38 men and 30 women, mean age: 33 years, mean BMI: 45 kg/m²). Pleural effusion manifested as a fluid density in the dependent portion of pleural cavity on CT. The sensitivity of left pleural effusion to predict gastric leaks after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy was 73.8%, and the specificity was 91.2%. The positive and negative predictive values were 90.8% and 74.7%, respectively, and the Youden’s index was 64.9%. Conclusion: Left pleural effusion exhibits good diagnostic accuracy for gastric leaks after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Notably, the specificity (91.2%) was very high.