Incidence of regurgitation after the banded gastric bypass.

Background: Frequent regurgitation is a common complication following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP). This study investigated the risk of becoming a chronic regurgitator, by considering silicone ring size and lower esophageal sphincter (LES) function, and their relationship with weight loss.

Methods: 80 morbidly obese patients were randomly selected to undergo surgery using ring length of 62 mm (40 patients, group A) or 77 mm (40 patients, group B), with 6 months' postoperative follow-up. Preoperative esophageal manometry parameters were correlated with occurrence of chronic postoperative regurgitation. Patients were considered to present chronic regurgitation when this occurred on >10 days/month.

Results: The groups were homogeneous regarding age, gender, race, weight, BMI (47.8+/-6.1 vs 50.2+/-6.4 kg/m2) and obesity-related diseases. There were 15% more chronic regurgitators in group A than in group B. Chronic regurgitators in group A lost more weight than chronic regurgitators in group B (P=0.026) or non-chronic regurgitators in group A (P=0.016). A greater proportion of chronic regurgitators had LES hypotonia (mean respiratory pressure <14 mmHg) than did non-chronic regurgitators (P=0.008). Logistic regression demonstrated that the chance of being a chronic regurgitator in group A was 4.5 times greater than in group B (P=0.046), and that the chance of a chronic regurgitator having LES hypotonia was seven times greater than of having normal LES pressure (P=0.006).

Conclusion: Silicone ring size and LES hypotonia are independent prognostic factors for chronic regurgitation following RYGBP. Ring size and chronic regurgitation contribute significantly towards weight loss during the first 6 postoperative months.