Fifty-five patients were reoperated on for an unsatisfactory outcome after antireflux surgery. Presenting symptoms were heartburn alone (27), heartburn and dysphagia (10), dysphagia alone (9), chest pain (4), left shoulder pain (1), left shoulder pain and fever (1), and signs of anemia (3). The symptom of dysphagia was usually of immediate onset whereas heartburn reoccurred after a symptom-free period (p = 0.014). The most common failed antireflux procedure was a Nissen fundoplication (37). The incompleteness of the residual wrap, its location around the stomach and the irreducibility of the gastro-oesophageal junction below the diaphragm were accurately predicted by barium swallow study in 70, 83 and 92% of the patients, respectively. Abnormal oesophageal body motility was related to oesophagitis, herniation of the residual repair into the chest or both (16/20), and it normalized in 6 of the 11 patients evaluated at follow-up. Oesophageal acid exposure and prevalence of oesophagitis were higher in patients with heartburn than in those with other symptoms (p < 0.02). Intraoperative findings were breakdown of the repair, its location around the stomach, its herniation into the chest, its too excessive tightness, a gastric fistula, or any combination. Remedial surgery consisted of a new antireflux procedure (42), a new antireflux procedure combined with closure of a gastric fistula (3), a closure of a gastric fistula alone (1), a closure of the crura (4), an oesophageal resection (3), a total gastrectomy (1), and a duodenal diversion (1).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)