Endoscopic findings and their clinical correlations in patients with symptoms after gastric bypass surgery

The aim of this study was to describe the endoscopic findings in patients with upper GI symptoms after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery and to correlate clinical features with endoscopic findings.

Patients with symptoms after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass referred for endoscopy were studied. Endoscopy was performed in standard fashion with a 9.8-mm diameter endoscope.

Forty-nine patients underwent a total of 69 upper endoscopy procedures between January 2001 and February 2003. The most common endoscopic findings were the following: normal post-surgical anatomy (21 patients, 43%), marginal ulcer (13 patients, 27%), stomal stenosis (9 patients [19%], including 5 with a concomitant marginal ulcer), and staple-line dehiscence (8 patients [16%], including one with a marginal ulcer). Abdominal pain was the most common symptom (26 patients, 53%) and was more frequent among patients with a normal endoscopy compared with those with an abnormal endoscopy (p=0.04). Stomal stenosis was present in 39% of patients with nausea, vomiting, or dysphagia; it was not present in any patient without these symptoms (p=0.001). Fifteen percent of procedures performed within the first 6 postoperative months were normal, compared with 53% of those performed beyond 6 months (p=0.02). There was no complication of endoscopy.

Among patients with symptoms after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass presenting for endoscopy, normal post-surgical anatomy was the most common finding. Marginal ulcer was the most common abnormality. Presentation with abdominal pain and performance of endoscopy beyond the 6th post-operative month were predictive of a normal endoscopy, and lack of nausea, vomiting, and dysphagia predicted the absence of stomal stenosis.