The Angelchik prosthesis in the surgical therapy of reflux oesophagitis. Short and long term results.

The authors report the results acquired from 1981 to 1985 using the Angelchik prosthesis in 22 patients with reflux oesophagitis resisting medical therapy for more than 6 months. Clinical evaluation has been done using Visick scale, as modified by Deakin. Clinical and instrumental controls have been done at 1 month, 12 months and 5-10 years after the operation. Intraoperative mortality and morbidity were zero. Complications directly related to the operation were: transitory dysphagia in 4 cases, persistent dysphagia in 3 cases, transitory gas bloat syndrome in 1 case and persistent gas bloat syndrome in another, persistent stenosis in 1 case and prosthesis dislocation in 6 cases. Clinical results were satisfactory (success rate: 90.9%) only in patients with a short term follow-up (30 days). The full rate of success has come down to 84.2% and 66.6% in patients having follow-ups respectively of 1 year and 5-10 years. The results are truly disappointing and the authors conclude that this procedure is not to be employed.