Gastric and jejunal histopathological changes in patients undergoing bariatric surgery.

BACKGROUND: - Morbid obesity is a multifactorial disease that is increasingly treated by surgery.

OBJECTIVE: - 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 Helicobacter 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.