Selective vagotomy and pyloroplasty in the treatment of gastric ulceration: Some clinical observations and results

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Abstract
Selective vagotomy and pyloroplasty have been used in 43 patients with gastric ulceration between July, 1964, and January, 1968. Clinical and radiological observations demonstrated that the ulcer usually took 15–20 days to be cured, although in some cases this period was substantially prolonged. Up to the present recurrence has been observed in 3 patients (7.8 per cent), all of whom showed signs of prolonged antral retention, together with incomplete vagotomy in I case. Pathogenic considerations concerning the possible causes of this recurrence are suggested and discussed. Functional results are at present very satisfactory in 84.2 per cent of patients, in whom it has once more been observed that the use of selective vagotomy seems to avoid the appearance of serious diarrhoea, which is not unusual after truncal vagotomy. Preliminary results show that vagotomy and pyloroplasty seem to bring about a cure in cases of gastric ulcer and that these methods offer certain possibilities of cure. However, the appearance of a number of recurrent ulcers obliges us to observe a certain prudence until we have at our disposal more evidence and experience of the method.