Abstract
BACKGROUND: Morbid obesity is a multifactorial disease that increasingly is being treated by surgery. AIM: To evaluate gastric histopathological changes in obese, and to compare with patients who underwent gastrojejunal bypass and the jejunal mucosa after the surgery. METHODS: This is an observational study performed at a tertiary public hospital, evaluating endoscopic biopsies from 36 preoperative patients and 35 postoperative. RESULTS: In the preoperative group, 80.6% had chronic gastritis, which was active in 38.9% (77.1% and 20.1%, respectively, in the postoperative). The postoperative group had a significant reduction in H. pylori infection (p=0.0001). A longer length of the gastric stump and a time since surgery of more than two years were associated with Helicobacter pylori infection. The jejunal mucosa was normal in 91.4% and showed slight nonspecific chronic inflammation in 8.6%. CONCLUSION: There was a reduction in the incidence of Helicobacter pylori infection in the postoperative group. A longer length of the gastric stump and longer time elapsed since surgery were associated with Helicobacter pylori infection. The jejunal mucosa was considered normal in an absolute majority of patients.