Distal Antrectomy With Vagectomy for Duodenal Ulcer

Abstract

The evolution of the newer conservative surgical procedures for chronic duodenal ulcer has been due primarily to the stimulus of Dragstedt's reports on vagotomy in 1943 to 1945.^1-4 These procedures have been developed and introduced by a number of US surgeons during the past 25 years. The formulation and adoption of these have slowly evolved as research data were reported by various investigators during the ensuing years. Step by step over a period of ten years the important roles played by the vagus and antrum in the pathogenesis of a chronic duodenal ulcer were discovered and reported by Dragstedt and associates^5-8 Nyhus et al,⁹ Harkins and Nyhus¹⁰ and many others,^11-14 as well as Schmidt and Hallenbeck.¹⁵ As a result of these findings, it has been established that there are two major physiologic phases which control and influence gastric secretory function and output, particularly in