Abstracts
2002 Digestive Disease Week

# 106177 Abstract ID: 106177 Is There a Difference in Outcome of Laparoscopic Antireflux Procedures between GERD-Patients with and without Barrett's Esophagus?
Karl Fuchs, Martin Fein, Stephan M Freys, Joern Maroske, Harald Tigges, Marco Sailer, Wuerzburg, Germany

BACKGROUND: Barrett`s esophagus(BE) is considered a complication of GERD. There are some reports that postsurgical outcome can be worse in these patients compared to GERD-patients without BE. AIM: The aim of this study is the comparison between patients with and those without BE regarding preoperative characteristics of the disease including functional defects, intra- and postoperative complications and postoperative functional results. METHODS: In a surgical unit 308 consecutive patients with GERD (253 without BE, 55 with histolgically documented BE) were prospectively investigated in this study. Preoperative work-up consisted of upper GI-endoscopy, selective barium study, esophageal manometry, 24h-pH-monitoring and 24h-bilirubin-monitoring. Laparoscopic fundoplication was performed in all patients using either short floppy Nissen or Toupet-technique. All intra- and postoperative problems were recorded. One year follow-up investigations consisted of documentation of the symptoms, endoscopy and functional assessment. Statistical comparison was performed with the Wilcoxon test. RESULTS: Patients characteristics, preoperative status, intra-and postoperative course and 1-year follow-up data are shown in the table for both groups. Despite the preoperative less favorable functional status, postoperative outcome is not different. CONCLUSION: GERD-patients with BE benefit from laparoscopic antireflux procedures and do not necessarily have a disadvantage regarding the outcome compared to those without BE.