Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the effect of gastric secretion on the rate of recurrent ulcer after parietal cell vagotomy for duodenal ulcer. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Three hundred patients who underwent parietal cell vagotomy for duodenal ulcer between 1975 and 1986 were evaluated. The mean follow-up period for 280 patients was 5 years. METHODS: The gastric secretion tests concerned basal acid output (BAO) and peak acid output stimulated by pentagastrin or insulin. Tests were preoperative for 172 patients and postoperative for 118. RESULTS: At the end of that time, the overall incidence of symptomatic recurrent ulcer was 15%. Two criteria were shown to be important predictors of recurrent ulcer: preoperative BAO > 7 mmol/hr, for which the recurrence rate 5 years after vagotomy was 30% versus 11% for values below this threshold (p = 0.01), and postoperative BAO > 1.4 mmol/hr, for which the recurrence rate at 5 years was 72% versus 8% for lower values (p = 0.0001). All patients with recurrent ulcer had either a postoperative BAO > 7 mmol/hr and/or a postoperative reduction in BAO < 80%. CONCLUSION: Preoperative BAO > 7 mmol/hr and postoperative BAO > 1.4 mmol/hr were shown to be factors predictive of RU. All patients with RU presented either with preoperative BAO > 7 mmol/hr and/or a reduction in BAO < 80%. Consequently, in our opinion, these criteria could be used either to select patients for vagotomy or to assess the effectiveness of vagotomy of different types, especially those performed by celioscopy.