Endoscopy of the partitioned stomach.

Fiberoptic endoscopy is an important diagnostic modality for evaluation of the patient with upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract symptoms following gastric bypass and gastroplasty. During a 3-year period, 182 patients underwent gastric partitioning procedures and 22 patients (12%) developed upper GI symptoms requiring endoscopic evaluation. Eight patients had undergone Mason vertical banded gastroplasty, 12 patients had undergone Gomez gastroplasty, and two patients had undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. In four of five patients with abdominal pain, gastritis of the proximal pouch was observed. Of the two patients with symptoms of obstruction of the proximal gastric outlet, one patient was found to have a cherry pit occluding the channel. Intraoperative endoscopy was performed in one patient who developed upper GI bleeding after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, the pylorus was scarred and stenotic and multiple superficial ulcerations were seen in the excluded distal stomach. In eight patients with symptoms suggestive of channel stenosis, four were found to have a stenotic channel and underwent endoscopic dilation of the channel. Upper GI endoscopy was performed in eight patients with Gomez gastroplasty to confirm suspected dilatation of the channel between the upper and lower gastric pouches. Upper GI contrast studies did not estimate accurately the diameter of the channel as determined during endoscopy. No complications were observed following any of the endoscopic procedures. As the collective experience with gastric partitioning procedures increases, the need for endoscopic examinations of the upper GI tract will also increase. Endoscopists should be familiar with the altered gastric anatomy and with the spectrum of upper GI lesions that develop following these operations.