Parietal cell vagotomy and truncal vagotomy in elective duodenal ulcer surgery--results after six to twelve years.

In a randomized trial between 1974 and 1980, parietal cell vagotomy (PCV) was compared with truncal vagotomy (TV) in the treatment of duodenal ulcer in 106 patients. After a mean period of 3.9 years no significant differences were found between PCV and TV patients with respect to Visick grading and recurrence rates. Nor did the preoperative location of the ulcer-prepyloric or duodenal-significantly influence the recurrences. The latter follow-up reported in 1981, showed that PCV was not superior to TV. The present paper describes a re-analysis of the same material in 1985. After a mean observation time of 8.7 years no significant differences in the ulcer recurrence rate were found between PCV and TV. Equal patient satisfaction with the two procedures was found. In patients with prepyloric ulcers, preoperatively, there was a higher recurrence rate among those who had undergone PCV than TV.