[The functional result of surgery of hiatus hernia (author's transl)]

The authors study 50 case records of hiatus hernia operated according to the modified technic of Nissen or Toupet. There was no anatomical relapse, but they observed in five cases an imperfect functional result. In three cases, this imperfect result with dysphagia and esophageal dilatation, is transient and is due to restoration of the sphincter. In two other cases, the dysphagia persisted for years after the operation. The latter cases were in young subjects with digestive dystonia. From these cases, the authors distinguish hernias due to ageing and those due to deterioration of the meso-esophagus, easily curable surgically, and hernias in young subjects due to a neuro-hormonal disturbance where surgical reconstruction of the sphincter does not produce the expected functional cure.