Contraction of the gall bladder before and after total abdominal vagotomy

Abstract

Summary Contraction of the gall bladder in response to entry of lipid into the duodenum has been assessed by measuring the area seen on radiographs after administration of Solu-Biloptin to ten control subjects and to ten patients before and after total abdominal vagotomy and pyloroplasty. Time was measured from the entry of a meal of nut oil, opacified with barium, into the duodenum. No significant change was noted in the area of the resting gall bladder after vagotomy. The contraction of the gall bladder was similar in the control subjects, and in the patients before operation. Following operation the similarity persisted until sixty minutes after the oil entered the duodenum when an increase in the area of the gall bladder occurred in six of the ten patients. No material change in gall bladder function was noted after vagotomy and it is unlikely that post-vagotomy diarrhoea results from division of the vagal innervation of the gall bladder.