[Clinical study of a group of vagotomized patients]

The physiopathological premisses underlying vagotomy and its use in the treatment of gastroduodenal ulcer are examined. It is submitted that the inadequacies and risks of the original technique are reflected in the modifications subsequently introduced into truncular vagotomy. A long-term assessment is made of a series of patients operated for duodenal ulcer by different surgeons using different forms of vagotomy. It is felt that superselective vagotomy is most consonant with the therapeutic objectives and associated with the least risk. In addition vagotomy is indicated in subjects with POPU after gastric section whose local and general condition contraindicate more complicated and serious measures, such as degastroenterostomy with further resection.