Gastroesophageal reflux after distal gastrectomy: possible significance of the angle of His

Abstract

Objective: We investigated whether the angle of His influences gastroesophageal reflux after distal gastrectomy.

Methods: Thirty-eight patients having distal gastrectomy and 10 controls underwent upper gastroesophageal fluoroscopy to measure the angle of His, and gastroesophageal reflux was assessed by scintigraphy. The association between scintigraphic reflux and the angle of His was then evaluated.

Results: In distal gastrectomy patients with and without reflux symptoms, the angle was 108.82 +/- 21.88 degrees and 96.07 +/- 13.25 degrees, respectively; it was 74.14 +/- 10.85 degrees in the controls. The angle was significantly larger in the patients than in the controls (p < 0.01). In addition, the angle in the symptomatic gastrectomy group tended to be larger than in the asymptomatic group. The angle was also significantly larger in patients with a scintigraphic reflux index > or =6% than in those with an index <6% (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: These findings suggest that the angle of His plays a role in reflux after distal gastrectomy and that the severity of reflux may be estimated by measuring this angle.