INTERMEDIATE FOLLOW-UP OF LAPAROSCOPIC ANTIREFLUX SURGERY

BACKGROUND: Open antireflux surgery is an established long-term treatm ent for chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease. Short-term results of laparoscopic antireflux surgery are excellent, but long-term follow-u p is not yet available. METHODS: Twenty-four-hour ambulatory esophagea l pH monitoring and symptom scores were collected prior to laparoscopi c antireflux surgery and 6 weeks postoperatively. These studies were r epeated in an unselected cohort of patients 1 to 3 years after operati on. RESULTS: One hundred patients who were >1 year from surgery at the time of the present study volunteered for intermediate follow-up symp tom assessment, and 35 also completed repeat 24-hour monitoring. The m edian interval after surgery among these volunteers was 17 months. Thi rty-three (94%) had a normal pH study, which correlated with improveme nts in symptom scores. One patient had an abnormal pH study but no ref lux symptoms, and 1 patient with an abnormal study developed recurrent symptoms of reflux after an episode of vomiting 11 months postoperati vely. CONCLUSIONS: The intermediate-term results of laparoscopic fundo plication suggest that long-term efficacy of this operation will be eq uivalent to open fundoplication.