Subtotal gastrectomy in the treatment of peptic ulcer: Evaluation of 220 cases

Abstract

Among the 220 patients with an average age of 53.6 years (184 men and thirty-six women) with benign peptic ulcer who were subjected to subtotal gastrectomy at the Hertzler Clinic and Halstead Hospital in the years 1943 to 1955, only three (1.5 per cent) suffered proved recurrence, all of them anastomotic. There were five operative deaths, a mortality rate of 2.7 per cent, all of them following resection for duodenal ulcer. Results in this series of gastrectomies, obtained by a 90.7 per cent adequate follow-up consisting of personal interview and questionnaire, showed 90.1 per cent of the patients with a satisfactory result, 5.2 per cent with a fair result and 1.5 per cent with failure. The dumping syndrome obtained in four of the 195 cases that were followed up, is discussed and an explanation for the low incidence presented. The mortality rate (2.7 per cent) and morbidity (fourteen days) are presented, discussed and compared, together with late results of operative procedures to other similar studies following subtotal gastrectomy and hemigastrectomy with vagotomy.