Parietal cell vagotomy for bleeding duodenal ulcers.

From January 1978 to December 1985, 22 parietal cell vagotomies for bleeding peptic ulcers were performed at the Charleston Area Medical Center. Twenty of these operations were done for acute bleeding with an overall complication rate of 27 per cent. There was only one operative mortality, and these results coincide with those of the world literature. Follow-up ranges from 1 month to 6 years with an average of 2 and one half years. Seventy-eight per cent of our patients had a good result defined as either Visick class I (ten patients) or Visick class II (four patients). All of the patients, with the exception of the one mortality, had control of the bleeding. Therefore, the authors believe parietal cell vagotomy should be considered in the treatment of acute bleeding peptic ulcer disease.