Our first 35 patients studied five years after parietal cell vagotomy

Parietal cell vagotomy without drainage (PCV) was performed on 35 patients. The patients were evaluated at regular intervals for 60 months. A recurrent ulcer developed in four patients. One patient was reoperated on, one patient refused an operation, and in two patients, the ulcers healed and remained healed for four years after withdrawal of ulcerogenic drugs. Another patient was reoperated on for pyloric obstruction. Diarrhea was reported by no more than one patient at any reporting period. The number of patients who reported dumping at the various time periods ranged from two to four. At the time of each patient's last interview, 33 were considered to have excellent or good results. PCV is a safe and effective operation for treatment of duodenal ulcer. Instructions in the technique are necessary to avoid errors that might unnecessarily occur and lead to poor results with first operations.