What is the concept of “Dumping syndrome” after upper gastrointestinal surgery? – A proposal of questionnaire to evaluate dumping symptoms form surgeon’s perspectives.

Abstract

Background: The term “Dumping syndrome (DS)” is well-known among surgeons, however, its definition and diagnostic rule are still unclear. The aim of this study was to provide a general concept of DS and a relevant questionnaire to evaluate the symptoms from surgeon’s perspectives.

Methods: According to the established psychometrics methods of the scale development, we conducted this study; consensus meeting, item pool, qualitative survey, making draft scale, item selection and internal validation. In the validation, 359 patients who underwent surgery for gastric or esophageal cancer were enrolled. To assess the conceptual validity of DS, the exploratory factor analysis was conducted, and the subscale design and items were determined.

Results: A total of 359 patients were enrolled, and answers were obtained from 344 patients (95.8%), included 225 gastric cancer patients, 107 esophageal cancer patients and 12 other malignant disease in stomach patients. The symptoms of sleepiness, upper abdominal discomfort, gurgling noise and diarrhea after eating were common symptoms in patients. The timing of symptoms occurring were a normal distribution. After the factor analyses, 10 items and 2 domains were isolated: systemic symptoms and abdominal symptoms.

Conclusion: We have suggested a concept of DS after upper gastrointestinal surgery and provided an assessment scale.