A comparative study on gastric emptying and secretory status in the early postoperative period after truncal vagotomy with two pyloroplasty variants performed for peptic ulcer disease. II. Heineke-Mikulicz pyloroplasty and comparison with the cassimally routine.

In 14 peptic ulcer patients undergoing truncal vagotomy with Heineke-Mikulicz pyloroplasty (VTP-HM), gastric emptying of a radiolabeled solid meal, gastric acid secretion and gastrin release was examined within a median of 14 days (range; 10 to 63 days) following the operation, and compared with the results obtained in 14 patients subjected to vagotomy and Cassimally pyloroplasty (VTP-Cas). VTP-HM markedly disturbed gastric emptying in 10 out of 14 patients (71%), four of which (28%) had extremely rapid, and six (43%) exhibited abnormally delayed gastric emptying. Due to a wide inter-subject variability, no significant differences between VTP-HM and VTP-Cas were found for any of the gastric emptying parameters considered. The basal acid output was significantly lower after VTP-Cas than VTP-HM: 2.4 +/- 0.8 vs 5.8 +/- 1.0mmol.h-1, (p less than 0.02). The difference in pentagastrin-stimulated gastric acid secretion: 9.4 +/- 1.4 vs 12.0 +/- 1.8 mmol.h-1 for VTP-Cas vs VTP-HM, respectively, was not statistically significant. Higher fasting serum gastrin concentration (102.0 +/- 21.1 vs 63.3 +/- 8.3 ng.l-1), and greater postprandial gastrin release (AUC0-120: 16690 +/- 2648 vs 10654 +/- 1283 ng.l-1 min) were observed after VTP-HM than after VTP-Cas. The respective differences did not, however, reach the level of statistical significance, the possible clinical relevance of the differences between the two pyloroplasty procedures with respect to their effect on gastric evacuatory and secretory functions is discussed.