Leak after sleeve gastrectomy. How long do we have to be worried?

Currently, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is the most popular procedure for the treatment of morbid obesity in USA and Europe. Minor complications have an overall incidence of 11 % while major l complications constitute about 5 % in large series. The mean incidence of leak is 2.1 % . According to the time of onset, Csendes et al. classified leakage as early when diagnosed within 4 days posteratively, intermediate within days 5–9 and late when occurring after the 10th postoperative day. Leak is the second most common cause of death with an overall reported mortality rate of 0.4 %. It remains unusual and unexplainable to see very late leaks occurring several months after LSG (6-7- months) as those reported in this paper.