The effect of parietal cell vagotomy and selective vagotomy with pyloroplasty on iron absorption. A prospective randomized study.

Iron absorption from a composite meal was studied in 37 male patients before and 1 year after parietal cell vagotomy (PCV) and selective vagotomy with pyloroplasty (SV + P) in a prospective randomized series. The ability to absorb dietary non-haem iron was studied by relating in each subjects the food iron absorption to the absorption from a small dose of ferrous iron, which has been shown to be unaffected by gastric surgery. After both PCV and SV + P there was a malabsorption of food iron which was statistically significant in patients with increased iron requirements caused by phlebotomy. Malabsorption of food iron was less marked after PCV and SV + P than in patients after gastric resection, and it is concluded that there may be no need for a general prophylactic iron supplementation in patients operated on with PCV and SV + P.