Endoscopic evaluation of the gastrojejunostomy in laparoscopic gastric bypass

A significant and potentially deadly complication of the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is leakage from the gastrojejunostomy (GJ). The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of intraoperative endoscopy in preventing postoperative anastomotic leakage.

The study enrolled 340 consecutive patients undergoing laparoscopic gastric bypass procedures performed from January 2001 to July 2004. In all cases, an endoscopist performed video gastroscopy to evaluate the integrity of the GJ using air insufflation of the pouch after distal clamping of the Roux limb. Intraoperative leaks were repaired and the anastomosis was retested. Demographic, operative, and endoscopic data were collected and analyzed. Logistic regression was used in both univariate and multivariate modeling to identify independent preoperative variables associated with the presence of intraoperative leak. Model parameters were estimated by the maximum likelihood method. From these estimates, odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed.

There were no postoperative anastomotic leaks or mortalities in our series. Overall, endoscopic evaluation of the GJ resulted in the detection of 56 intraoperative leaks (16.4%). There was a significant difference in the incidence of intraoperative leakage for patients older than 40 years (21%) vs those younger than 40 years (10.5%; p = 0.01). In the initial 91 cases, the GJ was performed by the end-to-end anastomosis (EEA) technique; the subsequent 249 were performed with a combination of linear stapling and handsewn technique. There was a trend toward more leakage in the GIA group (18%) versus EEA (12%); however, the difference was not significant (p = 0.188). Age remained an independent risk factor for leak detected intraoperatively in the multivariate logistic regression model after adjusting for covariates. Age >40 years increased the risk of intraoperative leakage by 2.3 times (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.2–4.6; p = 0.01). The rate of postoperative anastomotic stricture was the same among patients detected with an intraoperative leak (5.4%) and those without (5.6%; p = 0.934).

Endoscopic evaluation of the GJ is a sensitive and reliable technique for demonstrating anastomotic integrity and preventing postoperative morbidity after gastric bypass. Age >40 years was identified as an independent risk factor for intraoperative leak in this series.