GASTROESOPHAGEAL REFLUX AFTER BARIATRIC SURGERY IN CHILDREN

Abstract

According to Popescu et al. (2018), the prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing, becoming an epidemic problem worldwide. Consequently, diseases associated with weight gain, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, colon cancer, rectal cancer, breast cancer, liver cirrhosis, obstructive sleep apnea, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), have also increased. The incidence of GERD is higher in obese patients compared to normal-weight patients, with a 2.5 times greater risk of developing the disease's symptoms (Kumar S.; Kelly A.S., 2017; Popescu et al., 2018; Weihrauch-Blüher S.; Wiegand S., 2018). Different treatment modalities have been proposed to treat obese patients, but bariatric surgery, by generating anatomical, physiological, and neuro-hormonal changes, has achieved better long-term results, with sustained weight loss and a decrease in complications and mortality caused by obesity (Popescu et al., 2018). The most performed surgical procedure in the world is sleeve gastrectomy, and despite its positive effect on weight loss and improvement of comorbidities associated with obesity, this technique seems to favor an increase in the incidence of GERD or worsening of the disease in patients who already had symptoms (Stenard F.; Iannelli A., 2015; Melissas et al., 2015; Bou Daher H.; Sharara A.I., 2019). This literature review will gather information on the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease in morbidly obese individuals before and after sleeve gastrectomy, as well as its complications and appropriate management of adverse effects, through articles published in the last 10 years, in Portuguese and English, in high-impact journals and in the CAPES, PubMed, and SciELO databases.