Proximal gastric vagotomy and segmental gastrectomy in duodenal ulcer disease--a preliminary report

The clinical and acid secretory results of 3 patients operated upon with proximal gastric vagotomy associated with a segmental gastrectomy for duodenal ulcer are presented. The outcome of surgery was favourable with cure of the ulcer disease, without dumping, diarrhoea or retention symptoms. The maximal acid output was reduced by 82% and the basal acid output by 62%. However, one patient developed a nonfatal anastomotic leak postoperatively and was reoperated upon. As this might be due to inadequate blood supply following proximal gastric vagotomy we plan to study the microcirculation in this area before proceeding with this combined procedure.