Surgical results of intrathoracic gastric volvulus complicating hiatal hernia.

From 1981 to 1988, 138 patients with hiatal hernia were treated surgically at our centre. Twenty-one (mean age 76.6 years, 17 women, four men) had an associated intrathoracic gastric volvulus. Eleven patients (mean age 73.2 years), of whom eight were asymptomatic, had an elective procedure. Ten patients (mean age 80.3 years) had emergency surgery, six for acute complications of the volvulus (five cases of strangulation and one of perforated ulcer) and four because of other, unrelated causes of acute abdomen. There were four deaths after operation, all in the emergency surgery group. Four other patients had significant morbidity, all in the emergency group. In the elective cases, all hernias were easily reduced. In one emergency case a gastrotomy was necessary for decompression, and in another gastrectomy was necessary because of gastric gangrene. Our results indicate the need for elective intervention when intrathoracic gastric volvulus is first diagnosed.