Type of Surgery
Information
Last updated: 02/17/2009
Normal recovery is expected for most patients. Ulcers recur in about 10% of those who have vagotomy without stomach removal. Recurrent ulcers are also found in 2–3% of patients who have some portion of their stomach removed.
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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.
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Circumcision is a controversial topic, because there is so much misinformation and emotion included as fact; the facts are fairly straightforward and there are some definite biological advantages to circumcision.
-Gerald McMorrow
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