In general surgery

General surgery

General surgery, despite its name, is a surgical specialty that focuses on abdominal organs, e.g., intestines including esophagus, stomach, small bowel, colon, liver, pancreas, gallbladder and bile ducts, and often the thyroid gland . They also deal with diseases involving the skin, breast, soft...

, a Roux-en-Y anastomosis, less formally and precisely Roux-en-Y

Roux-en-Y

Roux-en-Y may refer to:*A type of gastric bypass operation*Roux-en-Y anastomosis...

, is a surgically

Surgery

Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

 created (end-to-side) anastomosis

Anastomosis

An anastomosis is the reconnection of two streams that previously branched out, such as blood vessels or leaf veins. The term is used in medicine, biology, mycology and geology....

. Typically, it is between small bowel and small bowel that is distal (or further down the gastrointestinal tract

Gastrointestinal tract

The human gastrointestinal tract refers to the stomach and intestine, and sometimes to all the structures from the mouth to the anus. ....

) from the cut end.

Overview

The name is derived from the surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

 who first described it (César Roux

César Roux

César Roux was a Swiss surgeon , who described the Roux-en-Y procedure.-References:http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/3068.html...

) and the stick-figure representation. Diagram

Diagram

A diagram is a two-dimensional geometric symbolic representation of information according to some visualization technique. Sometimes, the technique uses a three-dimensional visualization which is then projected onto the two-dimensional surface...

atically, the Roux-en-Y anastomosis looks like the letter

Letter (alphabet)

A letter is a grapheme in an alphabetic system of writing, such as the Greek alphabet and its descendants. Letters compose phonemes and each phoneme represents a phone in the spoken form of the language....

 Y

Y

Y is the twenty-fifth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet and represents either a vowel or a consonant in English.-Name:In Latin, Y was named Y Graeca "Greek Y". This was pronounced as I Graeca "Greek I", since Latin speakers had trouble pronouncing , which was not a native sound...

; typically, the two upper limbs of the Y represent a proximal segment of small bowel and the distal small bowel it joins with (which is often a blind end), and the lower part of the Y the distal small bowel (beyond the anastomosis).

Roux-en-Ys are used in several operations and collectively called Roux operations.

Operations that make use of a Roux-en-Y

• Some gastric bypasses for obesity
  Obesity
  Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
  
  .
• Roux-en-Y reconstruction following partial or complete gastrectomy
  Gastrectomy
  A gastrectomy is a partial or full surgical removal of the stomach.-Indications:Gastrectomies are performed to treat cancer and perforations of the stomach wall....
  
   for stomach cancer
  Stomach cancer
  Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...
  
  .
• Roux-en-Y hepatico
  Liver
  The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
  
  jejuno
  Jejunum
  The jejunum is the middle section of the small intestine in most higher vertebrates, including mammals, reptiles, and birds. In fish, the divisions of the small intestine are not as clear and the terms middle intestine or mid-gut may be used instead of jejunum.The jejunum lies between the duodenum...
  
  stomy
  Stoma
  In botany, a stoma is a pore, found in the leaf and stem epidermis that is used forgas exchange. The pore is bordered by a pair of specialized parenchyma cells known as guard cells that are responsible for regulating the size of the opening...
  
   used to treat (macroscopic) bile duct obstruction which may arise due to:
  • a common bile duct
    Common bile duct
    The common bile duct is a tube-like anatomic structure in the human gastrointestinal tract. It is formed by the union of the common hepatic duct and the cystic duct . It is later joined by the pancreatic duct to form the ampulla of Vater...
    
     tumour or hepatic duct tumour (e.g. resection of cholangiocarcinoma
    Cholangiocarcinoma
    Cholangiocarcinoma is a cancer of the bile ducts which drain bile from the liver into the small intestine. Other biliary tract cancers include pancreatic cancer, gallbladder cancer, and cancer of the ampulla of Vater...
    
    )
  • a bile duct injury (e.g. cholecystectomy
    Cholecystectomy
    Cholecystectomy is the surgical removal of the gallbladder. It is the most common method for treating symptomatic gallstones. Surgical options include the standard procedure, called laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and an older more invasive procedure, called open cholecystectomy.-Open surgery:A...
    
    , surgical misadventure, trauma
    Physical trauma
    Trauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...
    
    )
  • an infection/inflammation (e.g. pancreatic pseudocyst
    Pancreatic pseudocyst
    A pancreatic pseudocyst is a circumscribed collection of fluid rich in pancreatic enzymes, blood, and necrotic tissue, typically located in the lesser sac of the abdomen....
    
    )
• Roux-en-Y choledochojejunostomy - indication
  Indication
  Indication can refer to:* A synonym for Sign.* Human interface Highlighting the single object pointed to as a cursor is moved, without any other user action such as clicking, is indication....
  
  s same as Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy.

External links

• Anastomoses - thefreedictionary.com.