Gastropexy as a Treatment Option for Paraesophageal Hernia

A hiatal hernia is a widening of the diaphragmatic hiatus causing herniation of the stomach into the thoracic cavity. It develops because of an insufficiency of the hiatus. The paraesophageal hernias (PEH) are classified as grade II-IV hiatal hernia with at least 50 % of the stomach misplaced in the thoracic cavity.

A paraesophageal hernia (PEH) is a potentially dangerous condition. One see in varied degree, the stomach and other organs being misplaced above diaphragm, in the thoracic cavity. Symptoms such as dysphagia, vomitus, weight loss, pain, short breath and emergent situations where abdominal organs are strangulated with risk of tissue death in thorax defines whether a patient should be offered operation and how fast it should be performed.

The operative management of PEH has become a laparoscopic procedure within the last 20-30 years with a concomitant significant decrease in morbidity and length of hospital stay. It is managed by different subspecialized surgeons, all of them having different perspectives and approaches to this condition. Surgery in this area is potentially high-risk operations with risk of perforation of oesophagus, injury to lungs, aorta, pericardia, spleen and stomach. Without operation symptomatic patients with PEH are at risk of developing an acute surgical condition with organ perforation with high per-and postoperative mortality.

Contemporary surgical technique is divided into three crucial steps; 1) removal of the hernia sac, 2) hiatoplasty with or without mesh and 3) an anti-reflux procedure and/or gastropexy. Each step is managed differently among surgeons/centres worldwide with varying evidence. Many surgeons add an anti-reflux procedure to the surgical management of PEH, to protect against postoperative acid reflux. The argument is that an anti-reflux procedure lowers postoperative reflux and recurrence of the paraesophageal hernia, but this is without clear evidence. As an addition or an alternative in step three of the PEH procedure, some centres do an anterior gastropexy to anchor the stomach in the abdominal cavity. It is a simple technique compared with an anti-reflux procedure with possibly equal satisfactory long-term outcomes but less postoperative complications. However, evidence is sparse and larger studies on this technique are highly warranted.

The aim is to study the need of a fundoplication as part of the procedure for PEH regarding symptom control and quality of life. For this reason, The investigator want to set up a prospective two-armed multicenter study in collaboration with St. Olav's Hospital, Trondheim and Gastroenheden, Hvidovre, Denmark. The reason for this collaboration is 1) to enlarge the group of investigation, as PEH is a rare condition, 2) to compare current practice (fundoplication/no fundoplication) among the included institutions. .