Surgical treatment of peptic ulcer disease

Elective surgery for peptic ulcer disease has diminished significantly over the past 15 years. However, emergency surgery has not shown a decline. Some series have even reported an increase in hospitalizations and operations for hemorrhage. The appropriate surgical procedure for peptic ulcer disease must be tailored to the specific needs of the individual patient. During emergency operations for hemorrhage from duodenal ulcer, we recommend suture ligature of the bleeding vessel and vagotomy-pyloroplasty for high-risk patients, or vagotomy-antrectomy for the lower-risk patient. Bleeding gastric ulcers should be resected, if possible. For massive hemorrhage from stress ulceration requiring surgery, near-total or total gastrectomy should be performed. Perforated duodenal ulcers are best managed by closure and a definitive ulcer operation, such as vagotomy-pyloroplasty. Perforated gastric ulcers are best excised but may be simply closed if conditions do not favor resection. In these situations, biopsy should be performed. We recommend truncal vagotomy-antrectomy for patients presenting with obstruction. Vagotomy (truncal or proximal gastric) with drainage is an acceptable alternative in this situation. For patients with intractable ulcer disease or for those who are noncompliant, proximal gastric vagotomy is the preferred operation. However, other operations may need to be considered, depending on the specific situation. Recurrent ulceration needs appropriate work-up to determine the possible cause. Although patients with ulcer recurrence initially may be placed on medical treatment, about 50% will require reoperation. The most effective procedure for peptic ulcer disease is truncal vagotomy-antrectomy, which has a recurrence rate of less than 1%. The procedure with the least morbidity and the fewest undesirable side effects is proximal gastric vagotomy. Ulcer recurrence after proximal gastric vagotomy or truncal vagotomy-pyloroplasty is in the range of 10% to 15%.