Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is a misnomer
Article Outline
To the editor:
Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy has become very popular as an isolated procedure or as a staging operation before a more complex procedure in patients with a high body mass index. The name of this operation remains controversial. Marceau et al [1] was the first to describe it in 1991, within the context of the duodenal switch and termed it “parietal gastrectomy.” Hess and Hess [2] termed it “vertical gastrectomy” in 1998, and Almogy et al [3] used the term “longitudinal gastrectomy” in 2004.
In the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery [4], [5] position statement, the term “sleeve gastrectomy” was used. However, according to the Medical Dictionary “-tomy” comes from the Greek as “ektomé,” meaning cut, division, and excision; thus, “gastrectomy” would be the right term for removal of the stomach (total gastrectomy) or a part of the stomach (ie, polar gastrectomy, distal gastrectomy as antrectomy).
“Gastrectomy” refers, then, to the removal of part of the stomach but not to that part of the stomach that remains in place, the remnant. The remaining stomach, “remnant stomach,” the pouch, the reservoir, or, in this case, the sleeve would not be a part of the gastrectomy. A misnomer is when a noun is used inappropriately or incorrectly. Thus, the term “sleeve gastrectomy” is a misnomer because we are using the noun “gastrectomy” with the modifier “sleeve,” which does not correspond to that name. In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified. “Gastric sleeve” would be the correct term for this operation, because the adjective corresponds with the noun but “sleeve gastrectomy” does not.
In 2010, the Brazilian Federal Board [6] decided that the correct term should be “gastrectomía vertical,” and the Spanish Bariatric Surgical Society also approved at the SECO Valencia 2010 Assembly that the correct term should be “gastrectomía vertical”; thus, the acronym “GVL” should be used if gastrectomía vertical is done by laparoscopy. This is the same term proposed in 2008 [7].
We have consulted philologists who share this opinion. I do not know whether at this time the “bariatric world” would be ready for this change; however, if it is the correct one, I think we should aim for this change before it is too late.
Disclosures
The author has no commercial associations that might be a conflict of interest in relation to this article.
References
- . Biliopancreatic diversion with gastrectomy as surgical treatment of morbid obesity . Obes Surg . 1991;1:381–387
- . Biliopancreatic diversion with a duodenal switch . Obes Surg . 1998;8:276–282
- . Longitudinal gastrectomy as a treatment for the high-risk super-obese patient . Obes Surg . 2004;14:492–497
- . ASMBS position statement on “sleeve gastrectomy” as a bariatric procedure . Committee Approved by the ASMBS Executive Council; June 2007;
- . Position Statement (Sleeve Gastrectomy as a bariatric procedure) . Surg Obes Relat Dis . 2007;3:573–576
- Diário Oficial no dia 12/02/2010, sessão 1, página 72 de Brasil, Resoluçãocfm No. 1.942/2010 Resolución; 1942, 2010 del Consejo Federal de la Medicina brasilero (Published no D.O.U. de 12 de fevereiro de 2010, Seção I, p.).
- . Nomenclatura bariátrica . Cir Esp . 2008;83:220–221
PII: S1550-7289(11)00588-0
doi:10.1016/j.soard.2011.07.010
© 2012 American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
