Gastric surgery is not a risk for Barrett’s esophagus or esophageal adenocarcinoma

Background & Aims: The contribution of duodeno-gastroesophageal reflux to the development of Barrett’s esophagus has remained an interesting but controversial topic. The present study assessed the risk for Barrett’s esophagus after partial gastrectomy. Methods: The data of outpatients from a medicine and gastroenterology clinic who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for any reason were analyzed in a case-control study. A case population of 650 patients with short-segment and 366 patients with long-segment Barrett’s esophagus was compared in a multivariate logistic regression to a control population of 3047 subjects without Barrett’s esophagus or other types of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Results: In the case population, 25 (4%) patients with short-segment and 15 (4%) patients with long-segment Barrett’s esophagus presented with a history of gastric surgery compared with 162 (5%) patients in the control population, yielding an adjusted odds ratio of 0.89 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.54-1.46 for short-segment and an adjusted odds ratio of 0.71 (0.30-1.72) for long-segment Barrett’s esophagus. Similar results were obtained in separate analyses of 64 patients with Billroth-1 gastrectomy, 105 patients with Billroth-2 gastrectomy, and 33 patients with vagotomy and pyloroplasty for both short- and long-segment Barrett’s esophagus. Caucasian ethnicity, the presence of hiatus hernia, and alcohol consumption were all associated with elevated risks for Barrett’s esophagus. Conclusions: Gastric surgery for benign peptic ulcer disease is not a risk factor for either short- or long-segment Barrett’s esophagus. This lack of association between gastric surgery and Barrett’s esophagus suggests that reflux of bile without acid is not sufficient to damage the esophageal mucosa.