Clinical, Endoscopic, and Histologic Findings at the Distal Esophagus and Stomach Before and Late (10.5 Years) After Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy: Results of a Prospective Study with 93% Follow-Up

Abstract

Objective: Perform a prospective study based on sequential clinical, endoscopic, and histologic evaluations of the foregut late after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) in obese patients. After LSG, several studies have suggested an increase in the incidence of clinical gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) while others have reported an improvement but based mainly on clinical questionnaires.

Methods: Prospective study of 104 consecutive patients submitted to LSG. Several postoperative endoscopic and histologic evaluations of the esophagogastric junction (EGJ) and the gastric tube (GT) were performed and correlated with symptomatic findings.

Results: According to clinical preoperative findings, patients were divided into non-refluxers (Group I) and refluxers (Group II). Seven patients were unreachable, leaving 97 (93%) for late evaluation. Among Group I, 58.5% developed de novo GERD, while in Group II just 13.6% showed the disappearance of them. Endoscopic evaluations showed progressive deterioration of the EGJ in Group I, with the development of erosive esophagitis (EE), hiatal hernia (HH), and dilated cardia in a large proportion of them. In the GT, the presence of bile was seen in 40%, and an open immobile pylorus was detected in 82%. Short-segment Barrett's esophagus (BE) appeared in 4%.

Conclusions: Patients submitted to LSG showed a significant and progressive increase in the presence of "de novo" GERD. Also, an increased duodenogastric reflux was seen through an open and immobile pylorus. Therefore, based on these results, it seems like LSG is a "pro-reflux" surgical procedure, which should be continuously evaluated late after surgery.

Keywords: Endoscopic findings; Gastroesophageal reflux; Histology of EGJ; Sleeve gastrectomy.