The yield, effectiveness and safety of gastroscopy in management of early postbariatric upper gastrointestinal pain.

BACKGROUND

Upper gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are prevalent among patients after -bariatric surgeries. Gastroscopy is an important procedure to investigate symptoms. Our primary aim was to evaluate the yield, effectiveness and safety of gastroscopy procedure obtained in a 3-months period after bariatric operation for exploring upper GI symptoms origin.

METHODS

Single center, retrospective study at the EMMS Nazareth Hospital from 2010 to 2018. All patients who underwent gastric-bypass (either Roux-en-Y[R-en-Y] or Mini-gastric bypass [MGB]) and who experienced early upper GI symptoms were included in the study.

RESULTS

A total of 428 were included in the study. Among them, 154 patients (36%) underwent R-en-Y surgery and 274 (64%) underwent MGB. Baseline characteristics were similar in the two groups. The mean age in the R-en-Y group was 42.3±10.8 vs. 42.8±11.2 in the MGB group. Thirty-nine patients underwent gastroscopy, more in the R-en-Y group compared to MGB group (11.6% vs. 7.6%, P<0.005). In the MGB group, more patients had normal surgical anatomy (23.1%) vs. 12.8% in the R-en-Y group, and the prevalence of erosive esophagitis was 14.2% in the MBG group vs. 5.5% in the R-en-Y group, P<0.005. On the other hand, marginal ulcer was more frequent after R-en-Y than MGB surgery (16.6% vs. 9.5%, P<0.005). No procedural related complication was observed in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Upper GI symptoms in the early postbariatric surgery period are common with most endoscopic examination revealing normal postsurgical anatomy. In this setting, gastroscopy is safe, without procedural related complications.