Consultant internal medicine, digestive system and liver, Dr. Wafaa Al-Hashash said there is a close correlation between gastric sleeve operations and the increase or emergence of gastroesophageal reflux disease, indicating that 40 percent of the people who underwent sleeve gastrectomy operations suffered from gastric reflux during 6 months.
Al-Hashash added about 5,000 bariatric surgeries are performed in Kuwait annually, and indicated that Kuwait, with this number, ranks second in the world after Chile,
Twenty-five percent of patients who underwent sleeve gastrectomy were given the Stretta technique for treatment. Reflux esophagitis, or about 1,250 people, explaining that the recovery rate after using this technique exceeded 90 percent.
Al-Hashash warned against neglecting esophageal reflux because it leads to infections of the esophagus as a result of reflux, and if it is neglected, it is at risk of cancer.