Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of a proton pump inhibitor, we retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent gastric fiberscopy (GFS) in the early phase after cardiac surgery.
Methods: The subjects were 103 patients who underwent GFS for poor appetite, gastric pain, heartburn, or hematemesis after cardiac surgery. We divided the patients into two groups: group I consisted of 49 patients who received an H2-receptor antagonist (ranitidine hydrochloride 300 mg/day), and group II consisted of 54 patients who received a proton pump inhibitor (PPI; sodium rabeprazole 10 mg/day) as prophylactic treatment. The incidence of upper gastrointestinal (GI) disease was compared in the two groups.
Results: Gastric fiberscopy confirmed that 82.5% of the patients had type I hiatal hernia. The incidences of gastric pain and heartburn were significantly higher in group I (12.2% and 83.7%) than in group II (0% and 37.0%). Moreover, gastric bleeding occurred in two patients from group I, one [corrected] of whom died of coagulopathy. The incidences of hemorrhagic gastritis, active ulcer, and reflux esophagitis were significantly higher in group I than in group II, at 22.4%, 22.4%, and 24.5% vs 1.9%, 0%, and 7.4%.
Conclusions: Early postcardiotomy GFS confirmed a high incidence of type I hiatal hernia. However, the proton pump inhibitor given in the early postoperative period proved more effective than the H2-receptor antagonist for relieving GI symptoms and preventing upper GI disorders after cardiac surgery.