Parietal cell vagotomy without drainage for treatment of duodenal ulcer. A two- to three-year follow-up report.

Parietal cell vagotomy (PCV) without drainage was performed on 35 patients. Three patients died during the study from causes unrelated to duodenal ulcer. Thirty-one (97%) of the remaining patients were followed up for two years; 66% have been studied after three years. At the end of two years, the mean basal acid output and peak hourly basal secretion rate were 43% and 47% less than the preoperative values, respectively. The number of patients with a negative insulin test result postoperatively fell from 64% of patients tested at two months to 44% at two years. The number of patients with an early positive insulin test result rose from 13% at two months to 28% at two years after operation. There were two recurrent duodenal ulcers; one required reoperation. A gastric ulcer developed in one patient who was taking massive doses of aspirin; the ulcer healed after aspirin withdrawal. One patient required operation for pyloric obstruction. Both dumping and diarrhea were reported by 7% of patients. These results suggest that PCV without drainage is an acceptable procedure for treatment of duodenal ulcer.