Petersen’s hernia after laparoscopic gastric bypass

Abstract

Background: laparoscopic gastric bypass is considered the gold standard procedure for the treatment of morbid obesity. Although this approach reduces significantly the morbidity in these patients, it has been also associated to an increase in the development of internal hernias.
Objective: to describe a series of patients who underwent laparoscopic gastric bypass as first line treatment for morbid obesity and identify those who presented a Petersen’s hernia after surgery.
Materials and methods: it was analyzed a series of patients with laparoscopic gastric bypass for the treatment of morbid obesity in a university hospital in Buenos Aires between 2011 and 2016. It were reviewed the medical charts and it were identified those who presented Petersen’s hernia, how they were diagnosed, there surgical resolution and outcome.
Results: of 172 patients who underwent the surgical procedure within this period of time, median age was 43 years, and 137 (79%) were women and 35 (21%) men. Four patients (2,33%) presented Petersen’s hernia during the postoperative course: 3 women and a man, with a range of age between 27 and 52 years and they required surgical treatment. Three of them could be treated by a laparosco- pic approach.
Conclusion: Petersen´s hernia is an infrequent complication during the postoperative course of lapa- roscopic gastric bypass and it requires surgical treatment. Laparoscopic approach is safe and with a fair long term postoperative evolution.