Postoperative Reflux Gastritis

The chief clinical features of forty-nine patients with the syndrome of reflux "alkaline" gastritis were epigastric pain, bilious vomiting, anemia, and the dumping syndrome. Separation of the symptoms of this syndrome from the symptoms of a multitude of other postgastrectomy syndromes is difficult, being complicated by a high incidence of emotional instability in these patients. Endoscopy remains the mainstay in diagnosis; among the characteristic endoscopic features are adherent mucus, edema, mucosal friability, and erosions, most severe on the gastric aspect of the stoma. The surgical treatment of choice is Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy accompanied by vagectomy.