The influence of cholecystectomy on the duodenogastric reflux of bile.

The effect of cholecystectomy on postprandial duodenogastric bile reflux was studied by biliary excretion scintigraphy in a group of 20 patients examined before and after gallbladder removal. Dyspeptic complaints were correlated with the presence of postprandial duodenogastric reflux in 37 patients admitted to the hospital for cholecystectomy. The removal of the gallbladder, whether functional or not, in patients presenting with gallstones, did not seem to influence the occurrence of postprandial duodenogastric bile reflux. Dyspeptic complaints were positively correlated with postprandial gastric reflux. This reflux was observed in 90% of dyspeptic patients, while only 7% of the patients without dyspepsia had reflux. The role of duodenogastric reflux in the production of dyspeptic complaints is open to discussion, but the removal of the gallbladder does not seem to interfere with the occurrence of bile reflux into the stomach after a milk meal.