Long-term self-reported symptom prevalence of early and late dumping in a patient population after sleeve gastrectomy, primary, and revisional gastric bypass surgery

Background: Early and late dumping are side effects of bariatric surgery. Almost no data are available on the prevalence of dumping after different surgical procedures.

Objectives: Comparison of the relative risks of dumping in a large population of patients having undergone primary Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (pRYGB), sleeve gastrectomy (SG), or revisional RYGB (rRYGB; after removal of band).

Setting: Bariatric center of a teaching hospital.

Methods: In this descriptive cohort study, all patients who underwent a pRYGB (n = 615), SG (n = 157), or rRYGB (n = 274) between 2008 and 2011 were approached by mail and asked to complete and return a questionnaire of general and disease-specific questions related to dumping syndrome. Relative risks (RR) were calculated (mean with 95% confidence intervals) by comparing the prevalence of high suspicion for early and late dumping between different surgical procedure groups and primary gastric bypass surgery.

Results: The questionnaire was completed and returned by 593 (57%) of 1046 patients. Fewer patients with SG were at high suspicion of early dumping than after pRYGB (RR [95% confidence interval] .46 [.22-.99], P = .049). No differences for early dumping were seen between rRYGB and pRYGB (RR 1.21 [.77-1.91], P = .40). More patients were at high suspicion for late dumping after rRYGB compared with after pRYGB (RR 1.78 [1.09-2.90] P = .021). No differences for late dumping were seen between SG and pRYGB (RR .59 [.22-1.61], P =.30).

Conclusion: Fewer complaints of early dumping are reported after SG, while patients report more complaints of late dumping after rRYGB compared with pRYGB.