Risk of gallstones following gastrectomy in Japanese men

Abstract

The risk of gallstones developing after gastrectomy in middle-aged Japanese men was investigated in a study of 2,738 men aged between 48 and 56 years who underwent both gallbladder ultrasonography (US) and a barium study of the upper digestive tract. It was revealed that 61 men had gallstones, 37 had had their gallbladder removed previously, and 55 had a history of gastrectomy. The prevalence of gallstones was 3.5 times higher in the men who had previously undergone gastrectomy (7.7%) than in those who had not (2.2%) (P = 0.03). Moreover, gallstones tended to be more prevalent in those who had undergone Billroth II gastrectomy (12.5%) compared with those who had undergone Billroth I gastrectomy (5.6%); however, the difference was not significant. These results indicate that gastrectomy using either Billroth I or Billroth II reconstruction predisposes to gallstone formation. Nevertheless, it was estimated that prior gastrectomy was responsible for no more than 5% of gallstones in the study population.

Billroth 1 versus Roux-en-Y reconstructions: a quality-of-life survey at 5 years

“…Gallstone formation after gastrectomy is recognized as a phenomenon observed especially after duodenal bypass. 36,37 Postoperative ultrasound examinations in our patients showed gallstone formation in both patient groups (Table 9). We were unaware of the reason why their gallstones were caused.…”

Factors for Postoperative Gallstone Occurrence in Patients with Gastric Cancer: a Meta-analysis

“…With the mature of surgical techniques and postoperative comprehensive treatment, the survival time of patients with gastric cancer was greatly extended after surgery; therefore, the postoperative complications have been paid more and more attention. In the follow-up, a portion of patients visited clinic again for gallstone, which seriously affected the life quality of patients (Segawa et al, 1991;Ikeda et al, 1995). In recent years, the gallstone occurrence after gastric cancer operation was extensively studied, researcher found that the gallstone occurrence was related to the following factors: whether cutting off vagus nerve, the dissection degree of lymph node, the scope of gastrectomy, the reconstruction way of digestive tract, whether pylorus-preserving, etc; however, some scholars still have different opinions.…”

Outcomes after Combined Laparoscopic Gastrectomy and Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in Gastric Cancer Patients

“…Increasing numbers of cholelithiasis have been widely reported after gastric resection, ranging from 10 to 25% [7][8][9][10] . Although the pathogenesis has not fully been identified, the most popular theory is that changes in bile composition and biliary stasis due to gallbladder dyskinesia resulting from surgical procedures are important contributing factors in postoperative gallstone disease, particularly division of the hepatic branch of the vagus nerve [11][12][13] .…”