The antiobstruction stitch in stapled Roux-en-Y enteroenterostomy

During the past 9 years, 393 Roux-en-Y gastric bypass operations for morbid obesity were performed by one surgeon at a university hospital. Twelve of the 393 patients subsequently developed mechanical small-bowel obstruction, and 7 of these 12 cases developed in the initial 38 patients in this series. There were 2 cases of small-bowel volvulus and 10 cases of postoperative adhesions. Three cases of adhesive obstruction occurred at the jejunojejunostomy. Two of the patients with anastomotic obstruction required operative treatment, whereas the remaining patient was successfully treated by nasogastric tube decompression. A simple technique is described that has successfully prevented this type of anastomotic obstruction in 355 subsequent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass operations. This technique should be useful in preventing anastomotic obstruction after any stapled end-to-side enteroenterostomy.