The centenary of Lester Dragstedt--fifty years of therapeutic vagotomy.

Lester Dragstedt Centenary Symposium. New Haven, Connecticut, October 1, 1993. Proceedings.

Gastroenterostomy after Three to Five Years

It is only iI years since Lester Dragstedt reintroduced vagal section in the treatment of peptic ulcers, yet in this short period, after attaining a popularity almost equal to that of partial gastrectomy, the operation has fallen into disrepute and is now rarely performed. Despite the many failures large numbers of patients have been cured by vagotomy although the different factors producing su...

Nine cases of gastric ulcer after vagotomy and drainage for duodenal ulcer.

Gastric ulceration was recognized as an occasional complication of vagotomy soon after Dragstedt championed the operation for the treatment of duodenal ulceration (Dragstedt and Owens, 1943). Gastric atony and antral stasis were to be expected after vagotomy without adequate drainage of the gastric contents and it was perhaps not surprising that a number of patients should have developed lesser...

Vagotomy; the present position.

The operation of vagotomy was suggested as long ago a's I812 by Brodie and was tried in cases of gastric crises by Exner and Schwatzman in 1912, and Latarjet in 1923. Bircher (1920), Steirlin (1920) and Schiassi (I925) reported good results in peptic ulcer, but the results do not appear to have been lasting and others who tried the operation were soon disappointed. Not until 1942 was really com...

Dragstedt, gastric acid and duodenal ulcer.

Dragstedt believed that basal hypersecretion of gastric acid was the root cause of duodenal ulcer, that the hypersecretion was due to an increased vagal stimulation, and that vagotomy would therefore cure duodenal ulcer. He introduced vagotomy and demonstrated that the operation was successful in curing most patients of their duodenal ulcers. This article reviews how further research in the suc...