Division and repair of the sphincteric mechanism at the gastric outlet in emergency operations for bleeding peptic ulcer. A new technique for use in combination with suture ligation of the bleeding point and highly selective vagotomy.

In three of 26 patients who were treated by highly selective vagotomy (HSV) plus suture of the bleeding point for massive hemorrhage from peptic ulceration, access to the ulcer could not be obtained by means of a duodenotomy or gastrotomy which spared the pylorus. Instead, a wide gastroduodenotomy was performed, the artery in the base of the ulcer underrun and HSV performed. The gastroduodenotomy incision was closed longitudinally, rather than as a pyloroplasty. In this way, the integrity of the antral mill and of the pyloric sphincter was restored. The patients were followed up for six months, one year and three years respectively, and were found to be in good health, without clinical or radiological evidence of gastric retention or of recurrent ulceration. Thus the sphincteric mechanism at the exit of the stomach can, like the anal sphincter, be divided and subsequently repaired with good restoration of function.