Impact of choice of anesthetic with vagotomy testing

Incomplete vagotomy is the most important cause of recurrent ulcer disease. Despite this, intraoperative vagotomy testing has not gained widespread acceptance. We used a technique with Congo red, a nontoxic azine dye that turns black (pH, 3.0) intraoperatively. The vagolytic effects of various general anesthetics has been shown. We found that halothane, used as a general anesthetic, combined with pentagastrin administration as a vagally synergistic stimulant, produced the most reliable, safe, and reproducible result when using Congo red intraoperatively.