Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Versus Loop Gastrojejunostomy for Malignant Gastric Outlet Obstruction

Malignant gastric outlet obstruction is when malignant tumor growth obstructs the gastric outlet at the level of the distal stomach or duodenum, causing food intolerance with nausea and vomiting. Most often, this signifies advanced neoplastic disease with associated poor prognosis for patients. Restoring patients to oral intake is important for palliative purposes. The current standard of care in patients requiring long-term alleviation of symptoms (≥2 months) is performing a loop gastrojejunostomy. This involves creating an intestinal bypass to the site of obstruction in the duodenum or distal stomach. This procedure has long been criticized for its poor resultant function for patients, mainly due to poor tolerance to food intake that include frequent episodes of nausea and vomiting and inability to for solid food intake. The need for a durable solution to malignant gastric outlet obstruction that provides better tolerance to solid food intake is evident. The roux-en-y gastric bypass procedure has been performed for a variety of indications for decades, most commonly for weight loss but also with oncologic resections of the stomach in cases of gastric cancer. Laparoscopic roux-en-y gastric bypass (R-Y bypass) has become the standard for this procedure in experienced hands and has been found to be safe in the short- and long term. The long-term function after R-Y bypass is generally favorable across published literature. No studies exist to compare loop gastrojejunostomy to roux-en-y gastric bypass in patients with malignant gastric outlet obstruction.