Abstract
It is generally believed that some of the unpleasant sequelae of truncal vagotomy (TV) and pyloroplasty are caused not by nerve section but instead are related some way to irreparable destruction of the bidirectionally competent pyloric ring. Experience of the earlier vagotomists was that an accompanying drainage operation was necessary to avoid gastric stasis. Further scrutiny of these earlier publications, however, shows that although symptoms of stasis occur, they are by no means universal, and according to Glenn1diminish within a period of 6-10 weeks. Slaney et al2went as far as claiming that their series of 74 TVs without a drainage operation in no case did serious gastric stasis arise. It therefore appears that after TV alone, gastric retention never develops many patients, and the majority whom it does, such stasis improves with time and does not constitute a long-term problem. It
Published Version
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