[The recurrent ulcer patient following selective proximal vagotomy in the treatment of duodenal ulcer (author's transl)].

Selective proximal vagotomy (SPV) in the treatment of duodenal ulcer shows a lethality of 0% in this series. The recurrence rate is 12.4% when 60% of the patients are examined by endoscopy at a mean postoperative interval of 27 months. If only the patients with complaints had been examined by gastroscopy then ulcer recurrence would have been diagnosed in 7.1%. One-third of the recurrences are in the stomach. There is no significant difference in the recurrence rate in male or female patients, whether the ulcer is uncomplicated or complicated or SPV is done with or without pyloroplasty. Ulcers heal under further surveillance in one-third of recurrent ulcer patients; one-half of the rest have to be reoperated upon.