Routine Upper Gastrointestinal Gastrografin® Swallow after Laparoscopic Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass

Abstract

Early intervention after UGI swallow may lessen morbidity. Routine UGI swallow following LRYGBP does not obviate the importance of close clinical follow-up.

The paradox of the pouch: prompt emptying predicts improved weight loss after laparoscopic Roux-Y gastric bypass

“…The utility of routine postoperative UGI series following RYGBP to identify anastomotic problems such as obstruction or leak has been advocated by some [13][14][15][16] and dismissed by other experts in bariatric surgery who recommended its selective use in patients exhibiting suggestive signs and symptoms of anastomotic stricture or leak [17][18][19]. Unrelated to the putative advantages of routine early postoperative UGI series, our study demonstrates an additional utility of this well-tolerated, complication-free study [16].…”

Routine upper GI series after gastric bypass does not reliably identify anastomotic leaks or predict stricture formation

“…Sims et al routinely obtained an upper GI series in 198 patients and diagnosed three leaks. They concluded that early detection resulted in less morbidity and shorter hospitalizations (mean 7.7 days) than for 6 patients whose leaks were found by other means and whose hospital stay averaged 40.2 days [25].…”

The utility of routine postoperative upper GI series following laparoscopic gastric bypass

“…Some argue that it should be used in all patients [5,6], while others advocate selective use based on clinical parameters [7,8]. The fact that postoperative GJ leaks follow a bimodal distribution, including early technical leaks and late leaks associated with tissue ischemia and healing, adds additional complexity to the issue.…”