Gastroscope-assisted laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: A case report with an unexpected old deflated intragastric balloon

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: Obesity has become a global health crisis and is now considered a pandemic. Intragastric balloons (IGB) can aid obese patients achieve a better effect of weight loss than medications while being noninvasive compared to surgical therapy. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a 42-yr-old female with difficulty in losing weight even after three attempts of IGB and several diet programs. At the time of presentation, the patients BMI was 46.2 kg/m(2). The patient experienced no gastrointestinal symptoms or stomach complaints and was found to have morbid obesity with hypertension and glucose intolerance. CLINICAL DISCUSSION: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) was suggested for the patient. While performing LSG in association with a gastroscope, an unexpected old and deflated gastric balloon was found residing inside the stomach cavity. The rest of the surgery had no difficulty after the old gastric balloon was removed. The patients BMI post-LSG after 18 months was noticed to be 26.6 kg/m(2). CONCLUSION: We recommend performing gastroscopy prior to LSG for every patient with a previous gastric balloon insertion, especially if they had it more than once, to avoid potential complications during surgery.