Pre and Early Post-Operative Iron Assessment in Obese Patients Underwent Laparoscopic Sleeve Gasterctomy

Obesity is a chronic disease associated with mortality and morbidity. Bariatric surgery (BS) as a long-term weight reduction treatment has been increased. This study investigated the early state of iron storage and deficiency in patients underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). Thirty patients were selected as a prospective study underwent LSG according to specialized inclusion and exclusion criteria at Soran Private Hospital in Erbil, from 1/1/2021 to 1/9/2021 after signing a consent form. All selected patients underwent preoperative and three months’ post-operative hemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and serum ferritin (SF) assessments. They were instructed to follow specialized diet regimen for three months’ post-operative and not to take any drugs and supplements. Results showed a strong positive correlation between preoperative and postoperative assessment for both Hb and MCV respectively (r= 0.72; P < 0.001), (r= 0.76; P < 0.001), and a moderate correlation for SF (r= 0.41; P < 0.024). Significant difference (P < 0.05) was found between preoperative and postoperative for the three markers (Hb, MCV and SF). Their values were decreased from preoperative to postoperative for the majority of the cases, but they were still within the normal range. The finding demonstrated that after three months from LSG, no patients showed iron deficiency anaemia. However, there was decrease in SF level which indicated that the storage capacity of iron was decreasing. This suggest that the iron supplement has to be started since the food regime followed in by the patients was not sufficient to maintain normal iron level.