Abstract
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is the commonest disease of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Despite its high prevalence in Western society, there is little agreement on the indications for, and outcome of, antireflux surgery. One factor contributing to this controversy is the difficulty in comparing results from different institutions, because of the lack of an agreed method of assessing the spectrum of severity of GERD from a given institution.