James Parker, Danny Vaughn, Dudley B Christie III, Earl Mullis, John Williams IV. Navicent Medical Center
Introduction: LINX procedure is emerging as an excellent option for the management of reflux disease, and has been rapidly gaining popularity on a worldwide scale. In this case series, we present our single institution experience with 75 patients following their LINX procedure and their associated short-term outcomes.
Methods: With IRB approval, we retrospectively reviewed all LINX procedures performed from 2014-2017. Cases were organized into a data registry and reviewed in order to analyze demographic data, procedure length, hospital stay time, and to evaluate dysphagia and elimination of PPI use at 6 week, 6 month, and 1 year intervals. Patients were excluded from the study if they were identified to have had any additional procedures performed concomitantly with LINX procedure in order help ensure homogeneous data entry.
Results: A total of 75 patients (n=75) qualified for analysis. The studied population included 29 males (38.7%) and 46 females (61.3%). Average age 53.6 years (male 49.6, female 56.1). Average BMI 30.5 (male 29.4, female 31.2). Average Demeester score was 41.2 during preoperative evaluation (54/75 evaluated). Average procedure length was 68.6 minutes. Average hospital length of stay was 0.99 days, with all patients tolerating a regular diet prior to discharge. Our 30-day readmission rate was 1/75 (1.3%). 5/75 (6.7%) patients required repeat EGD evaluation for either recurrence of symptoms or impacted food bolus. At 6 week follow-up, 25/75 patients (33%) complained of dysphagia and 65/75 patients (87%) had eliminated PPI from their daily medication regimen. At 6 month follow-up, 13/62 patients (21%) complained of dysphagia and 54/62 patients (87%) had eliminated PPIs. At 1 year follow-up, 5/44 patients (11%) complained of dysphagia and 5/44 patients (89%) had eliminated PPIs.
Conclusion: As a recently introduced surgical option, no long-term data exists detailing the LINX procedures ultimate success rates and complication profile. We conclude that the LINX procedure has demonstrated satisfactory 1 year outcomes after implantation. While larger power and more long term follow up will be needed to draw absolute conclusions relative to the LINX procedures impact on reflux management, we offer our early data to the growing body of information regarding the LINX procedures effectiveness and outcomes.
Presented at the SAGES 2017 Annual Meeting in Houston, TX.
Abstract ID: 86780
Program Number: P714
Presentation Session: iPoster Session (Non CME)
Presentation Type: Poster