[Postgastrectomy symptoms after partial stomach resection: Billroth I vs. Billroth II vs. reconstruction with...

We clinically followed 53 patients after a mean time of 3 years for postgastrectomy symptoms concerning 10 criteria including the Visick grading, dumping after Sigstad, efferent and afferent loop-syndrome, bile reflux, regurgitation and life-quality judged by the patient and the examiner. In our study we included 15 patients after a Billroth I, 15 after Billroth II, 15 patients after a Roux-en-Y reconstruction and 8 patients with a Roux-en-Y reconstruction because of severe disturbance of life quality after a primary Billroth II operation. The Roux-en-Y reconstruction showed significantly better results when compared to Billroth I and especially Billroth II reconstruction (p < 0.05). These results compare well with reports in the literature, where generally only one or two criteria are examined. We conclude that partial gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y reconstruction should be the preferred method provided that the procedure is adequate for the pathology found.