• Oliver A Varban, Adam Niemann, Amanda Stricklen, Rachel Ross, Amir A Ghaferi, Jonathan F Finks, and Justin B Dimick.
• 1 Department of Surgery, University of Michigan Health Systems , Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• J Laparoendosc Adv Surg Tech A. 2017 Aug 1; 27 (8): 761-767.

BackgroundVideo assessment is an emerging tool for understanding variation in surgical technique.MethodsRepresentative videos of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) were voluntarily submitted by 20 surgeons who participated in a statewide quality improvement collaborative. The amount of time required to complete the salient steps of the operation was measured and variations in the tasks performed during each step were captured.ResultsTwenty-two videos of LSG were submitted and 11 videos included concurrent hiatal hernia repair. Data obtained from video analysis identified variation in time to complete each step of the procedure: prestapling dissection of stomach (5-25 minutes), gastric stapling (8-20 minutes), and management of the staple line (1-25 minutes). Time required to perform a hiatal hernia repair also varied (1-26 minutes), as did the type of repair: 55% were performed with a posterior cruropexy, 27% were performed with an anterior cruropexy, and 18% were performed with both. Ten different permutations of staple heights and buttressing material were used during division of the stomach with a gastric stapler. Management of the staple line included use of buttressing (64%), fibrin sealant (36%), oversewing (9%), surgical clips (18%), imbrication of the staple line (36%), and omentoplasty (55%).ConclusionsLSG technique is not uniform. Video analysis identified variation in (1) time to complete each step of the procedure, (2) hiatal hernia repair technique, (3) stapling technique, and (4) post-transection staple line management. Future efforts linking video analysis with clinical outcomes can provide objective evidence to support best practices.

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