Complications of gastrectomy
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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