COMPARATIVE REPORT OF PARTIAL GASTRECTOMY AND VAGOTOMY IN TREATMENT OF PEPTIC ULCER

WHEN ONE applies gastric resection or the Dragstedt operation to the surgical treatment of patients with ulcer disease, it must inevitably be concluded that vagotomy has objective advantages over partial gastrectomy. Vagotomy is in harmony with the neurovegetative pathogenesis of ulcer, gives a lower mortality, leaves the anatomic unity of the stomach untouched, and technically is easier to perform. A further important advantage of vagotomy is the decreased postoperative morbidity. Gastric resection, on the other hand, results in a high mortality rate, especially if performed in a surgical department staffed by a large number of surgeons. Thus, Quenu of Paris has reported a mortality of 6.6% in the performance of 500 gastric resections, and Huber of Vienna has encountered a mortality of 7.2% for 2,993 cases. This means that at Quenu's clinic every 15th patient died and at Huber's every 14th patient succumbed after partial gastric resection. If to this