[The Hollander test: an unsuitable method aimed at judging success following selective proximal vagotomy]

In a prospective, randomized study, proximal selective vagotomy with or without pyloroplasty was used as the exclusive procedure for elective treatment of duodenal ulcer without pyloric stenosis in man. Three months postoperatively 32 out of the first 35 patients exhibited incomplete vagotomy assessed by the 2-deoxy-D-glucose test. This incomplete vagal denervation of the parietal cell mass is due mainly to the principle of proximal selective vagotomy. In order to maintain the motility of the gastric antrum the denervation should be halted at a distance of 7 cm from the pylorus.