Korean J Gastrointest Motil.  1999 May;5(1):9-17.

The Effect of Radical Subtotal Gastrectomy on the Esophageal Motility and Acid Reflux at Short Term Interval

• Nah YH
• Choi SC
• Oh JT
• Lee JK

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: A lymph-node dissection around the abdominal esophagus, vagotomy, and dissection to the phrenoesophageal membrane performed during a radical subtotal gastrectomy result anatomical changes and may result functional changes in the lower esophageal sphincter. We performed this study to define the changes of the esophageal reflux and motility in the development of these complications.
METHODS
We performed this study before and after the radical subtotal gastrectomy with the esophageal manometry and 24hour ambulatory esophageal pH monitoring in 16 gastric cancer patients.
RESULTS
There were no significant changes of the length, resting pressure of the lower esophageal sphincter, and the velocity of peristalsis in the lower esophageal area after the radical subtotal gastrectomy (3.94+/-0.66 vs. 3,85+/-0.61, 24.93+/-8.68 vs. 24.21+/-9.43, 3.99+/-0.95 vs. 3.79+/-1.01, respectively). There were no significant changes of the number of reflux episodes >or= 5 min (0.56+/-0.96 vs. 0.44+/-1.03), the duration of longest reflux episodes (5.19+/-6.84 vs. 4.25+/-7.22), and the total reflux time of pH below 4 (11.13+/-14.32 vs. 12.19+/-19.11) after the radical subtotal gastrectomy.
CONCLUSION
This study suggests that acid reflux and esophageal motility after the radical subtotal gastrectomy might not be affected by anatomical derangement due to the surgical procedure itself.

Keyword

Gastrectomy; Esophageal motility; Gastroesophageal reflux

MeSH Terms

Esophageal pH Monitoring
Esophageal Sphincter, Lower
Esophagus
Gastrectomy*
Gastroesophageal Reflux
Humans
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Manometry
Membranes
Peristalsis
Stomach Neoplasms
Vagotomy