[Animal experiments to assess the risk of cancer in the stomach after vagotomy (author's transl)].

To assess the possible risk of cancer in the operated stomach, the influence of truncal vagotomy combined with different operative drainage procedures (pyloroplasty, gastro-enterostomy without entero-anastomosis, Roux-en-Y gastro-enterostomy) was studied in animal experiments. The aim of the study was to determine whether, compared to controls an earlier and higher incidence of precancerous epithelial lesions or cancers in the stomach occurs in vagotomized animals after oral administration of carcinogens (MNNG). To consider conditions, that may predispose to in vivo formation of carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds, bacterial flora and intragastric nitrite concentration were measured and compared in the various operative groups. The severity of induced epithelial lesions and the quantity of bacterial growth and nitrite concentration in the gastric juice were influenced, apart from the reduction of acid output after vagotomy, mainly by prolonged gastric stasis or the degree of enterogastric reflux. The results suggest that there is probably no increased risk of cancer following vagotomy, if sufficient gastric clearance is guaranteed and enterogastric reflux is largely excluded.