Thomas from Cypress sent us this question: “I had Nissen fundoplication surgery 2 years ago and after about 6 months I developed heartburn and reflux again and now 2 years later it’s so bad I’ve had to have a heart cath to check my stents in my heart and they are perfectly fine and heart DR believes my pain is coming from Nissen surgery. But the DR who performed the surgery does not seem to want to do anything about it. What should I do? I can’t keep living like this with this pain in my chest?”. Thank you Dr. Darido.
Dear Thomas,
At Houston Heartburn and Reflux Center, we do one thing and one thing only, but we do it right. We do it right because a properly performed Nissen Fundoplication is associated with 100% success rate. Our Nissen fundoplication patients are very happy with surgery outcome. They have complete resolution of acid reflux related symptoms including chest pain.
Chest pain after Nissen fundoplication may be related to recurrent acid reflux disease 6 months after a failed Nissen fundoplication. An expert acid reflux surgeon can help you figure out the cause of your symptoms. Your acid reflux specialist is likely to order upper endoscopy with ambulatory pH testing to check wrap anatomy, rule out recurrent hiatal hernia and recurrent acid reflux are indicated.
If there is evidence of wrap failure, slippage and/or recurrent hiatal hernia, revision surgery is indicated. Revision surgery performed by an expert acid reflux surgeon is associated with good outcome. Additional tests like gastric emptying study and esophageal manometry may be ordered prior to redo Nissen fundoplication and hiatal hernia repair.