Type of Surgery
Information
Last updated: 02/17/2009
Gastric (peptic) ulcers are included under the general heading of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. GI disorders affect an estimated 25–30% of the world's population. In the United States, 60 million adults experience gastrointestinal reflux at least...
once a month, and 25 million adults suffer daily from heartburn. Left untreated, these conditions often evolve into ulcers. Four million people have active peptic ulcers; about 350,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Four times as many duodenal ulcers as gastric ulcers are diagnosed. The first-degree relatives of patients with duodenal ulcer have a two to three times greater risk of developing duodenal ulcer. Relatives of gastric ulcer patients have a similarly increased risk of developing a gastric ulcer.
Advertisement
Search
Other Information
A vagotomy is a surgical procedure that is performed only in humans. It is resection (removal of, or at least severing) of part of the vagus nerve. It is not to be confused with vasectomy.
A plain vagotomy is a very destructive procedure, since all the parasympathetic supply from the stomach to the left side of the transverse colon relies on the vagus nerves. The gut will still function without vagus supply, but not as well.
Vagotomy technique was therefore improved by restricting resection to only those branches that go to the stomach (selective vagotomy), and further by selecting only those branches that appear to supply peptic cells (highly selective vagotomy).
Humans have two vagus nerves, whose fibres decussate and intermingle around the stomach. Accordingly, a vagotomy operates on both nerves simultaneously and in practice there is no need or way to make a distinction between them.
Other Information
It's a controversial arena -- the PSA is a marker of prostate bulk and size, but it's highly expressed in benign prostate disease as well as cancer -- so in that context it's not a specific marker.
-Arul Chinnaiyan
Find a Qualified Specialist
Looking for a specialist?
Please enter your zip code.