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Surgical telementoring programs (STMPs) as educational tools have consistently demonstrated success in the training of surgeons in a variety of surgical disciplines. The goal of an STMP is to train and educate practicing surgeons by improving or remediating surgical skills or assisting in the safe adoption of new procedures. STMPs may even have a role in assisting with recertification. In 2015, the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) launched the SAGES Telementoring Initiative at the Project 6 Summit. Herein, we provide a report on the SAGES Project 6 Logistics working group and lay out a plan for the recommended logistical framework to carry out an STMP.

Bariatric surgery has been established as the most effective long-term treatment for morbid obesity. We performed a retrospective review of SSO patients treated at our institute between 2008 and 2013 who underwent a laparoscopic gastric bypass (LGBP) or sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). The primary end point for this study was excess weight loss (EWL) at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. Secondary end points included procedure length (PL), length of stay (LOS), diabetes management and postoperative complications. We identified 135 SSO patients who underwent bariatric surgery (93 LGBP, 42 LSG) at our institute from 2008 to 2013 with a median follow-up of 49 months. The incidence of EWL > 30 % for patients in the LGBP group was 3.9, 29.0, 72.2 and 94.6 % at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively, while the incidence of EWL > 30 % in patients in the LSG group was 4.2, 25.0, 59.1 and 100 % at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively. PL was 124 ± 49 min for the LGBP group and 98 + 51 min for the LSG group (p

Medical weight loss options are rarely successful long term in young patients. Bariatric surgery has been shown to be safe and effective in this population. Patients ≤21 years old who had bariatric surgery at our institution between January 2009 and December 2013 were evaluated to determine the safety and efficacy of bariatric surgery in this population. The primary end point was excess weight loss (EWL). Secondary end points included surgical morbidity, improvement in obesity-related metabolic parameters, and subjective obesity-related symptoms at 1 year. Fifty-four patients were identified who had a laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LGBP) or laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). Fourteen patients were male (25.9 %), and 40 patients were female (74.1 %). Thirty-seven patients (68.5 %) underwent LGBP, and 17 patients (31.5 %) underwent LSG. Median follow-up was 13.3 months. The baseline BMI was 51.7 kg/m2 for the LGBP group and 51.0 kg/m2 for the LSG group. EWL was 35.2, 47.6, 62.4, 58.1, and 61.8 % for the LGBP group; 29.7, 44.7, 57.4, 60.3, and 59.0 % for the LSG group at 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36 months, respectively. Our complications included 1 anastomotic bleed, 1 postoperative stricture, and 1 patient who developed vitamin deficiency that manifested as a peripheral neuropathy in the LGBP group. LGBP was more successful than LSG in improving lipid panel parameters and HbA1c at 1 year, and it also seemed to offer better subjective improvement in obesity-related symptoms. LGBP and LSG seem to confer comparable weight loss benefit in patients ≤21 years old with acceptable surgical morbidity.