[Usefulness of Palliative Gastrojejunal Bypass Surgery]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of gastrojejunal bypass surgery performed in patients presenting with upper gastrointestinal tract obstruction due to unresectable advanced cancer.

The subjects were 21 patients who underwent gastrojejunal bypass surgery at our division between 2010 and 2014 for symptom palliation. We retrospectively evaluated the operative outcomes, whether chemotherapy was administered, the oral ingestion period, and survival time.

The median postoperative day of starting oral ingestion was 6 (range: 2-42), and the median period from decreased oral ingestion to death was 4 (range: 0-26) days. Twelve patients (57%) were discharged. Postoperative chemotherapy was prescribed to all the 9 patients who desired treatment. The median duration of oral digestion time was 61 days, and the median overall survival time was 92 days.

Gastrojejunal bypass surgery is found to have the potential to not only make relatively long-term oral ingestion possible, but also broaden available treatment options, such as home care or chemotherapy, thereby contributing to improved quality of life.