Recurrent Upside-Down Stomach after Endoscopic Repositioning and Gastropexy Treated by Laparoscopic Surgery

Patients with an upside-down stomach usually receive surgical treatment. In high-risk patients, endoscopic repositioning and gastropexy can be performed. However, the risk of recurrence after endoscopic treatment is not known. We treated a case of recurrent upside-down stomach after endoscopic therapy that indicated the limits of endoscopic treatment and risk of recurrence. An 88-year-old woman was treated three times for vomiting in the past. She presented to our hospital with periodic vomiting and an inability to eat, and a diagnosis of upside-down stomach was made. Endoscopic repositioning and gastropexy were performed. The anterior stomach wall was fixed to the abdominal wall in three places as widely as possible. Following treatment, she became symptom-free. Three months later, she was hospitalized again because of a recurrent upside-down stomach. Laparoscopic repair of hernias and gastropexy was performed. Using a laparoscope, two causes of recurrence were found. One cause was that the range of adherence between the stomach and the abdominal wall was narrow (from the antrum only to the lower corpus of stomach), so the upper corpus of stomach was rotated and herniated into the esophageal hiatus. The other cause was adhesion between the omentum and the esophageal hiatus which caused the stomach to rotate and repeatedly become herniated. Although endoscopic treatment for upside-down stomach can be a useful alternative method in high-risk patients, its ability to prevent recurrence is limited. Moreover, a repeated case caused by adhesions has risks of recurrence.