[The duodenum : a psychosomatic organ? (author's transl)].

A pressure-captor tube was inserted into the duodenum close to the ampulla of Vater in 15 surgical patients. The authors present a selection of 12 pressure curves under different circumstances : sleep, awake, meal, psychological agression, physical agression, pharmacological agression. The curves indicate that the duodenum reflects a psychosomatic structure in terms of its motricity, which could explain various aspects of gastric or biliary pathology.