Highly selective laparoscopic vagotomy in the management of duodenal ulcer and gastroesophageal reflux: the technique and results in 150 patients.

Highly selective vagotomy is the surgical treatment of choice for duodenal ulcer. It is the procedure that best maintains digestive anatomy and physiology with very few side effects, and widely performed all over the world. It has also been employed to treat gastroesophageal reflux for its many advantages: it reduces gastric acid output; it permits easy access to the gastroesophageal junction, assuring a precise, secure fundoplication. We have been using this technique in open surgery since 1978. This prospective study reproduces with laparoscopic guidance, the same technique we used to employ in open surgery. The purpose is to analyze the laparoscopic procedure and discuss the results in 150 patients who were treated between March 1992 and August 1996. This series deals with 36 patients with duodenal ulcer, 80 with gastroesophageal reflux and 34 who presented both. All the duodenal ulcer patients were treated successfully, with no recurrences to date. Recurrences have been recorded in two complex cases of gastroesophageal reflux. The remaining patients show no clinical evidence of reflux and present normal endoscopic findings, esophageal manometric studies and 24-hour esophageal pH measurements. Laparoscopic surgery with this technique appears to be an interesting alternative to prolonged medical treatment of these diseases in certain refractory patients.