Postprandial plasma gastrin and secretin concentrations after a pancreatoduodenectomy. A comparison between a pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy and the Whipple procedure.

Based on the observation that patients given a pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy maintain higher gut hormonal levels than do patients who have received the classic Whipple surgical procedure, which seems most likely due to a postoperative difference in the remaining digestive tract, the postprandial plasma gastrin and secretin concentrations in patients who have received either surgery have been evaluated to examine this difference more fully. The subjects were 20 patients treated by a pylorus-preserving operation and 27 patients treated by the Whipple procedure whose concentrations were compared with those of 8 healthy control patients. The postprandial plasma gastrin concentrations were found to be similar in patients given the pylorus-preserving operation and the controls and were significantly lower in patients who underwent the Whipple procedure (p less than 0.05). Similarly, the postprandial plasma secretin concentrations did not differ in these two groups, whereas patients who underwent the Whipple procedure showed significantly lower concentrations at 60, 90, and 120 minutes (p less than 0.05). The above findings, as well as supportive data in the literature, indicate that the duodenal bulb and the gastric antrum, which are resected in the Whipple procedure and are kept in the pylorus-preserving operation, seem to play important roles in the gut hormonal release and that the pylorus-preserving operation is the superior surgical technique in terms of gastrin and secretin release.