[Reflux esophagitis: surgical indications (author's transl)].

Reflux esophagitis is a benign disease. Therefore, therapeutic indications are of special significance. Surgery is undisputed in cases of failure of conservative therapy. For the first time reliable data are available on the effectiveness and on the barriers of conservative therapy, because of initial results from double blind studies. According to these results, healing of reflux esophagitis of grades I and II can be expected under conservative therapy. However, most of the patients in grades III to IV, resisted conservative therapy, so an operation is indicated.