Background: The classic surgical procedure for patients with Barrett's esophagus (BE) has been either Nissen fundoplication or posterior gastropexy with calibration of the cardia.
Methods: The purpose of our study was to determine late subjective and objective results of these classic surgical techniques in a large number of patients with BE. A total of 152 patients were included in this prospective protocol.
Results: There was 1 death (0.7%) after operation. The late follow-up of 100 months demonstrated a high percentage of failures among patients with noncomplicated BE (54%) and an even higher figure in patients with complicated BE (64%). In 15 patients low grade dysplasia appeared at 8 years of follow-up and an adenocarcinoma in 4 patients. Twenty-four-hour pH monitoring demonstrated a decrease in acid reflux into the esophagus, and Bilitec studies also demonstrated a decrease of duodenoesophageal reflux, but in all cases with a higher value than the normal limit.
Conclusions: Classic antireflux surgery in patients with BE results in a high percentage of failures at very late follow-up because it cannot completely avoid acid and duodenal reflux into the esophagus.