Results of the Hill antireflux operation.

Fifty-three consecutive patients underwent Hill hiatal hernia operation for esophageal reflux. Eight patients had failure or complications of previous non-Hill repairs, 14 patients had severe esophagitis (with dilatable stricture in 11), and the remaining 31 patients, many of whom had repair while undergoing abdominal operation for other diseases, had only moderate reflux symptoms. Ninety-six percent of the patients are either symptom-free or have had improvement in their symptoms during a mean follow-up of 3.9 years. Acute transient symptoms referable to the hiatal hernia repair occurred in 22 patients, while 8 patients had persistent symptoms. No serious acute complications, long-term disabling symptoms or reoperations for herniorrhaphy-related problems have occurred. It is concluded that the Hill antireflux procedure is highly effective and free of troublesome repair-related complications.