How to achieve total gastric sympathectomy

Experimental examinations on acute, stress induced gastric ulcers have shown the outstanding role of the sympathetic innervation in the pathogenesis of this ischemic disease. As reduction of sympathetic tonus resulted in a significant prophylaxis against "stress ulcers", further experimental work was done to achieve total but selective gastric sympathectomy. In a histomorphological study in dogs (Method: Hillarp and Falck in the modification of Heene ) the effects of three different surgical procedures on gastric sympathetic denervation were investigated: 1. Selective proximal vagotomy (= SPV, 8 dogs) 2. SPV and periarterial denervation of the main gastric arteries with severance of the gastrolineal ligament (= PASD , 8 dogs) 3. PASD alone (7 dogs) Selective proximal vagotomy resulted in a sympathetic denervation of major parts of the right site of the fundus and corpus. Following selective proximal vagotomy with periarterial denervation ( PASD ) there was a complete sympathetic denervation of the entire stomach. Only a minimal area of resting sympathetic innervation was observed on the esophago-cardial border when periarterial denervation ( PASD ) was performed alone.