In 24 control patients the lower oesophageal sphincter responded to graded increments in intra-abdominal pressure by a significant and sustained rise in tone. This response was abolished by atropine and was also absent in nine of 11 patients who had previously undergone truncal vagotomy for duodenal ulcer but not in the remaining two who had recurrent ulceration. In six patients studied after p...

The role of the vagus nerve in liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy was studied by comparing the effects of hepatic branch vagotomy with those of hepatic branch sympathectomy in rats. The liver weight as a percentage of body weight decreased significantly 7 days after vagotomy compared with the controls and this was associated with a reduction in food intake. There was no difference in ...

1. Bilateral cervical vagotomy in rabbits soon leads to death, usually within 8 to 24 hours. 2. Gradually increasing dyspnea, crises with expulsion of frothy, serous or sanguineous fluid from the mouth and nose, and terminal asphyxia are the important clinical features. 3. Postmortem examination reveals severe acute pulmonary edema and congestion, variable amounts of bronchopneumonia, and evide...

The arterial baroreflex system can be divided into the neural arc, from pressure input to efferent sympathetic nerve activity (SNA), and the peripheral arc, from SNA to arterial pressure (AP). Plotting the neural and peripheral arcs on a pressure-SNA plane yields a baroreflex equilibrium diagram. We examined the effects of vagotomy on the open-loop static characteristics of the carotid sinus ba...

n By strict definition, antrectomy refers to removal of the gastrin-secreting portion of the stomach and when combined with a vagotomy results in an 85% reduction in gastric acid secretion. In the 1960s and 1970s, antrectomy with or without vagotomy was routinely performed for treatment of benign gastric and duodenal ulcers but, due to pharmacologic developments in reducing acid secretion and e...

The results of surgical treatment for duodenal ulcer were compared in two groups of patients-51 who had undergone selective vagotomy without drainage and 17 who had had selective vagotomy and pyloroplasty. It is suggested that in the absence of organic pyloric or duodenal stenosis the former method seems both preferable and desirable, since postoperativley dumping does not occur and there is a ...

1. Cutting one vagus nerve, while recording the pulmonary ventilation of each lung separately, has no unique effect on the ventilation of the denervated lung. Both lungs respond to unilateral vagotomy by an equivalent slowing and deepening of respiratory movement. 2. When the bronchus to one lung is blocked the first effect is a slowing and deepening of the respiratory movements recorded by the...