Management of gastric emptying disorders following the Roux-en-Y procedure.

In 46 patients with gastric resection and Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy, gastric emptying was studied with the gamma camera. Seventeen patients were free of symptoms, 11 vomited occasionally (less than 5 times weekly), and 18 were severely incapacitated with daily vomiting, weight loss, and bezoar formation. Patients with occasional vomiting had early rapid emptying similar to that seen in the patients who were without symptoms and responded satisfactorily to nonsurgical therapy. The 18 patients with severe vomiting showed a marked delay in the emptying of the solid meal (p less than 0.01) but normal emptying of the liquid. There was no difference between those with and those without stomal ulceration or stomal stenosis. The stasis occurred in the stomach and not in the Roux limb. All 18 patients had a further extensive gastric resection, leaving a 50 to 75 ml upper gastric remnant drained by Roux-en-Y gastroenterostomy. Fifteen of these patients showed improvement and gained weight, and the gastric emptying of both the solid and liquid test meals is now faster than in any of the other groups (p less than 0.03). We conclude that extensive gastric resection is an effective means to reduce symptoms and improve gastric emptying in selected patients with severe gastric stasis of solid food after the Roux-en-Y procedure.