Role of vagal dysfunction in motility and transit disorders of jejunal roux limb after roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy

After a Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy patients frequently complain about abdominal pain, fullness, nausea and vomiting, ie, the Roux-en-Y syndrome. Stasis in the Roux limb due to disordered motility is known to be a cause of these complaints. The aim of the present study was to determine whether vagal denervation contributes to the development of motility disturbances and stasis in the Roux limb. Forty-seven patients with a Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy after partial gastrectomy were studied. A truncal vagotomy had been performed in 26 of these 47 patients. Transit through the Roux limb was evaluated by radionuclide studies, motility in the Roux limb was studied by manometry, and vagal function was tested by measuring the pancreatic polypeptide response to an insulin-induced hypoglycemia (PP test). On the basis of the PP test patients were classified as having (1) normal, (2) moderately impaired, and (3) severely impaired vagal function. The PP test showed that two of the 26 patients subjected to vagotomy had a moderately impaired vagal function, the other 24 all had a severely impaired vagal function. In the patients not subjected to a vagotomy, vagal function was disturbed in 11 of the 21 patients. Motility disturbances were not observed more frequently in patients with either moderately or severely impaired vagal function than in patients with normal vagal function. Stasis in the Roux limb was seen even more frequently in patients with a normal vagal function than in patients with a severely impaired vagal function. The results of this study indicate that vagal denervation of the Roux limb is not the cause of motility and transit disorders in the Roux limb.This work was supported by the Jan Kornelis de Cock-Stichting.