Effect of vagotomy on gastric emptying

Abstract

To determine whether pyloroplasty or a disrupted osmoreceptor mechanism is primarily responsible for the increased gastric emptying of hypertonic sugar solutions after vagotomy and pyloroplasty, test meals of 10% glucose (556 mOsm/kg) and NaCl (200 mOsm/kg) were administered to duodenal ulcer patients with no prior operation, after vagotomy and pyloroplasty, and in patients with prior vagotomy, hiatal herniorrhaphy, and no pyloroplasty. Hypertonic glucose meals were emptied more rapidly than normal after both operations. The hypotonic NaCl meal was emptied no faster postoperatively than it was preoperatively. The results rule out pyloroplasty as the primary factor responsible for the observed increased rate of gastric emptying. Instead, the data suggest that the osmoreceptor mechanism described by Hunt is disrupted by vagotomy.