Even in the hands of highly experienced bariatric surgeons, perioperative complications are inevitable. Of these, leaks and fistulas are amongst the scariest complications. Intrathoracic gastric fistulas (ITGF) can be associated with serious morbidity, mostly when cases are misdiagnosed or detected with delay. This is a systematic review of the literature to investigate the clinical and surgical outcomes of morbidly obese adult patients with a confirmed diagnosis of ITGF following bariatric surgery. A pooled analysis of 25 articles, encompassing 76 patients with post-bariatric ITGF, showed that the clinical outcome depends on the initial presentation, timing of the diagnosis in relation to symptom onset, and prompt and effective treatment. Any septic or unstable patient must undergo urgent surgical intervention, while stable patients might tolerate a step-up approach and watchful waiting for nonsurgical treatment. Among those who undergo surgery, treatment failure and the mortality rate are substantially high. Contingent upon a prompt management strategy, patients with postbariatric ITGF can generally have a favorable outcome in the long term.

Gastropericardial fistula, a rare condition characterized by an abnormal communication between the stomach and the pericardium, is an emergency as sequelae such as cardiac tamponade and sepsis may lead to hemodynamic instability and death. We aimed to summarize the surgical and radiologic findings of the reported cases published to date, describe their pertinent surgical history, and present an algorithm for diagnosis.
The Pubmed database was searched using the terms: gastropericardial, pericardiogastric, pneumopericardium, pericardial, and pneumopericardium with the term \"fistula\" added to each term. The search was limited to January 2000-October 2015 and English language publications.
Thirty five cases were identified. The most common etiology was prior esophageal and/or gastric surgery (80% of cases; esophagectomy = 26%/gastrointestinal reflux disease associated surgery = 23%/bariatric surgery = 11%/partial gastrectomy = 6%/other = 20%). The average duration between presentation and surgery was 7.3 ± 6.2 years (SD). Radiology typically played a crucial role in diagnosis with computed tomography most commonly demonstrated to be the most appropriate modality to demonstrate the fistula and assist in surgical planning. Contrast studies were frequently helpful to confirm the diagnosis. Chest x-ray findings including pneumopericardium and pericardial thickening were contributory but nonspecific. Esophagoduodenoscopy characterized the fistula in cases where imaging was equivocal and may provide therapeutic options.
We present the clinical radiologic findings of the 35 cases of gastropericardial fistula reported. This is the first literature review of gastropericardial fistula to focus on the effectiveness of these various diagnostic modalities and to present an algorithm for diagnosis.