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Complications of gastrectomy

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

It is important to elicit a history of gastrectomy since it may explain subsequent complications such as:

  • rapid feeling of fullness - very common but tends to improve over the first few months
  • bilious vomiting - varies in severity and persistence
  • anaemia - iron deficiency or vitamin B12 deficiency
  • dumping
  • bolus obstruction of the gastric outlet stoma
  • diarrhoea or steatorrhoea
  • 'blind loop syndrome' - a complication of a Polya gastrectomy due to bacterial overgrowth in the blind ended loop
  • weight loss - due to malabsorption and the above factors
  • osteomalacia - due to calcium and vitamin D malabsorption
  • ulceration - recurrent ulceration of the gastric remnant or stomal origin - in about 1% of cases
  • increased risk of subsequent gastric malignancy

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