Antrectomy as treatment of recurrence after vagotomy for duodenal ulcer

Sixty-eight patients antrectomized for recurrent ulcer after different types of vagotomy were reexamined two to ten years after the operation. Mortality after antrectomy for recurrent ulcer was 1.5 per cent (95 per cent confidence limits, 0.0 to 7.9 per cent), the recurrence rate 2.9 per cent (0.4 to 10.2 per cent), and total failure rate (Visick IV) 13.0 per cent (0.4 to 25.6 per cent). If these figures are applied to a series of 260 proximal gastric vagotomies recently reported from our department and compared with data from series of vagotomy-antrectomy as primary treatment of duodenal ulcer, the final surgical mortality and cure rate will be equal, whereas the final failure rate (Visick IV) probably would be less after proximal gastric vagotomy because of a lower frequency of dumping and diarrhea.