Background:Morbid obesity is a multifactorial disease that increasingly is being treated by
surgery. Aim: To evaluate gastric histopathological changes in obese, and to compare with
patients who underwent gastrojejunal bypass and the jejunal mucosa after the
surgery. Methods:This is an observational study performed at a tertiary public hospital, evaluating
endoscopic biopsies from 36 preoperative patients and 35 postoperative. Results:In the preoperative group, 80.6% had chronic gastritis, which was active in 38.9%
(77.1% and 20.1%, respectively, in the postoperative). The postoperative group had
a significant reduction in H. pylori infection (p=0.0001). A longer length of the
gastric stump and a time since surgery of more than two years were associated with
Helicobacter pylori infection. The jejunal mucosa was normal in 91.4% and showed
slight nonspecific chronic inflammation in 8.6%. Conclusion:There was a reduction in the incidence of Helicobacter pylori infection in the
postoperative group. A longer length of the gastric stump and longer time elapsed
since surgery were associated with Helicobacter pylori infection. The jejunal
mucosa was considered normal in an absolute majority of patients.