Belching and bloating: facts and fantasy after antireflux surgery

Background: Fundoplication is commonly complicated by belching difficulty a nd abdominal bloating. Postoperative belching ability, however, is difficul t to assess; subjective patient reporting is often used but may be unreliab le. Manometric measurement of the gastro-oesophageal 'common cavity' is an objective marker of gastro-oesophageal gas reflux. Methods: Twenty patients who had undergone Nissen fundoplication and 11 hea lthy controls underwent oesophageal manometry at rest and during gastric di stension for 10 min with 750 ml of gas. Results: Half of the patients reported an inability to belch; the other hal f reported varying degrees of belching difficulty, most of whom were rarely able to relieve bloating by belching. During gastric distension, none of t he patients had transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxation, while the controls had a median of 1 (range 0-1). Patients had fewer common cavities than controls; however, none of the belch urges experienced during gastric distension in patients was associated with a common cavity, compared with 48 per cent in controls. Conclusion: After fundoplication, patients do not belch as a result of gast ro-oesophageal gas reflux; rather it may be due to oesophagopharyngeal refl ux of swallowed air. Subjective reporting of belching ability is inaccurate and manometric measurement of common cavities provides a better means of a ssessment.