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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staff
Ursodeoxycholic acid
One prescription medication for bile reflux treatment is ursodeoxycholic acid, which helps promote bile flow. This medication may lessen the frequency of symptoms and the severity of pain associated with bile reflux. If bile reflux results from delayed stomach emptying, doctors may prescribe drugs to increase the rate at which food moves through your stomach.
Proton pump inhibitors
Drugs called proton pump inhibitors are often prescribed for the treatment of GERD and Barrett's esophagus. Although the primary purpose of these medications, which include esomeprazole (Nexium) and lansoprazole (Prevacid), is to block acid production, they may also help reduce bile reflux.
Surgical treatments
When medications fail to reduce severe symptoms or there are precancerous changes in the esophagus, doctors sometimes recommend surgery. Because some types of operations are often more successful than others, be sure to discuss the pros and cons carefully with your doctor.
Surgical options include:
- Diversion surgery. Surgeons have had success using a procedure called a Roux-en-Y (roo-en-wi) operation for treating bile reflux. In this procedure, surgeons make a new connection for bile drainage further down in the intestine, thereby diverting bile away from the stomach.
- Anti-reflux surgery. Typically used to treat acid reflux, this operation — known medically as fundoplication — may be less successful in people who have bile reflux problems. During the procedure, the part of the stomach closest to the esophagus (fundus) is wrapped and then sewn around the lower esophageal sphincter. This increases the pressure at the lower end of the esophagus and reduces acid reflux. People with bile reflux may continue to have symptoms after fundoplication, however.
