Open Access Highly Accessed Case report

Dumping syndrome following nissen fundoplication in an adult patient diagnosed by continuous online 13C/12C monitoring of 13C-Octanoic acid breath test "a case report"

Meir Mizrahi*, Gideon Almogy, Tomer Adar and Joseph Lysy

Author Affiliations

Gastroenterology Institute, Hadassah Ein Karem Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel

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BMC Gastroenterology 2011, 11:98 doi:10.1186/1471-230X-11-98

Published: 19 September 2011

Abstract

Background

Nissen Fundoplication is a common surgical procedure performed in treating gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Complications include dysphagia, gastric hypersensitivity, abnormal gastric motility, gas bloat syndrome and GERD relapse. Dumping syndrome may occur when a large volume of gastric content is delivered to the duodenum or jejunum, resulting in both gastrointestinal and vasomotor symptoms. Occasionally, dumping syndrome may be a complication in patients that have undergone nissen Fundoplication, especially in adults. The BreathID® continuous online 13C-Octanoicoctanoic acid breath test detects variations of less than 1/100,000 in the 13CO2/12CO2 ratio in exhaled air.

Case presentation

We report a case of a 38 year old male who was admitted and diagnosed with dumping syndrome following nissen Fundoplication, who was diagnosed using the BreathID® continuous online 13C-Octanoic acid breath test.

Conclusions

Early performance of a gastric emptying rate breath test in symptomatic patients, following upper GI tract surgery may help in the prediction or diagnosis of nissen Fundoplication complications such as dumping syndrome.