Revisional Surgery: Aphagia After Gastric Bypass

Background: Gastric bypass is one of the most widely performed bariatric procedures worldwide and continues to be the gold standard in obese patients with metabolic disorders. 1 Regarding the complications, these can appear early or late, the most frequent of the latter being anastomosis stenosis, especially the gastrojejunal (G-J) stenosis. The first treatment option in stenosis is the endoscopic approach, but in cases wherein it fails or the diagnosis is kinking, revisional surgery should be performed. Methods: We describe the technique, step by step, we use to perform a very complex revisional surgery in a patient with aphagia after gastric bypass. Results: This is the case of a 38-year-old female patient who underwent laparoscopic adjustable gastric band in 2011; due to her poor tolerance, a laparoscopic gastric bypass was done. She began with vomiting and gastroesophageal reflux with remarkable symptoms. Diagnosis of stenosis of the jejunojejunal anastomosis of the Roux-en-Y was made and two surgeries were done to treat it. Later the patient referred aphagia and a kink of the gastrojejunal (G-J) anastomosis were observed in the gastrointestinal series. We decided to do a revisional surgery and we describe it step by step in this article. Conclusion: The G-J anastomosis stenosis is the most frequent late complication. Also kinking has to be considered strongly when aphagia or symptoms of obstruction are present. If endoscopic treatment for stenosis or cases of kinking is unsuccessful and fails, then revisional surgery should be considered.