The development of 'stagnant loop' syndrome following surgery for peptic ulcer disease

Although gastric resection may cause a variety of functional gastrointestinal disorders, malabsorption is rare. When such a disturbance occurs other complicating factors are mostly involved. Two patients who developed a severe malabsorption after partial gastric resection are presented. They both had the prerequisites for intestinal stasis - one had small bowel diverticula and the other a 'bind loop' after previous surgery. Their malabsorption was cured by surgical correction of the stasis.