Acid secretion and gastric surgery

It was long believed that there were major differences in the pathophysiology between the three major categories of peptic ulcers. The unifying feature was that all peptic ulcers occurred in a mucosal compartment exposed to acid-pepsin secretions. All ulcers tended to heal more rapidly when acid secretion was more readily neutralized or inhibited. Decreased local resistance was considered to be present in primarily acute and chronic gastric ulcer. Surgery for peptic ulcer intended to reduce acid secretion, which also resulted in a diminished pepsin enzyme activity. The corresponding reduction could be accomplished either by gastric resection, different vagotomies or a combination of resections and vagotomies. Most of the procedures were basically abandoned at the time of introduction of modern medical therapeutic strategies. For duodenal ulcer and prepyloric ulcer diseases, various vagotomies were generally recommended or combined with antrectomy. Partial gastrectomy or antrectomy with gastroduodenostomy was the standard procedure for treatment of type 1 gastric ulcer. The great caveat associated with surgical procedures for elective treatment of uncomplicated peptic ulcer disease is confined to operative mortality, postoperative morbidity, and late postoperative metabolic sequelae. The only remaining indication today of remedial gastric surgery for peptic ulcer disease is when there is a defined risk for gastric cancer in an unhealed gastric ulcer and very seldom in a case with recurrent or therapy-resistant peripyloric ulcer.