African Journal of Medicine and Surgery

African Journal of Medicine and Surgery ISSN 3156-8734 Vol. 7 (2), pp. 001-005, February, 2020. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research paper

Symptomatic outcome following laparoscopic anterior 180°partial fundoplication: Our initial experience

S. Kumaresan, A. Sudirman and G. Ramesh*

Department of Surgery, Tuanku Jaafar Hospital, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.

Accepted 16 October, 2019

Abstract

Gastroesophageal reflux disease is increasing in frequency in the Asia Pacific region, which can be attributed to increase in awareness among doctors and patients and/or true increase in the prevalence of this disease. Surgical treatment of GERD is well established in the West and in selected clinical situations, provides well recognized benefits over non-surgical treatment. In contrast, there are only a few published studies in Asia especially on the outcome of the laparoscopic anterior fundoplication within the Asian community. Our aim is to evaluate symptomatic outcome of laparoscopic anterior 180° fundoplication in our community. Prospective analyses of 25 consecutive patients were done using a standardized questionnaire post-operatively. Overall satisfaction and the symptoms of heartburn and dysphagia were assessed together with other adverse effects of the surgery. Follow up was carried at a median of 9 months after surgery. Symptoms of heartburn assessed using the VAS showed significant drop from mean 7.4 pre-operatively to mean 1.75 postoperatively. De Meester symptom score indicated that a majority (56%) of patients reported none/minimal GERD symptoms, the other 44% reported mild GERD symptoms. This showed a vast improvement compared to pre-operative scoring where 80% of the patients reported moderate to severe GERD symptoms. This directly correlates with the estimation of patient satisfaction using Visick grading system with 24 (96%) patients reported none or mild symptoms post operatively. Overall, it is reasonable to conclude that laparoscopic anterior partial fundoplication achieved a satisfactory rate of overall success in our centre at short term follow up.

Key words: Laparoscopic anterior fundoplication, GERD, symptomatic outcome.