Ischemic Necrosis of Remaining Stomach Following Subtotal Gastrectomy

Abstract

Ischemic necrosis of the remaining part of the stomach rarely occurs after subtotal gastrectomy. Only one patient with such a complication has been described in the recent surgical literature. This patient was reported by Rutter in 1953.¹ The possibility of necrosis of the gastric remnant is not mentioned in several recent textbooks of abdominal surgery.* In the patient described in this report, extensive necrosis of the gastric remnant developed after a subtotal gastrectomy had been performed for carcinoma. Report of a Case The patient, a 54-year-old Negro woman, was admitted to the Surgical Service of The Johns Hopkins Hospital on Oct. 22, 1954, because of intermittent epigastric pain for one year. The pain initially began after meals and was relieved by eructation; it subsequently began to appear before meals and was relieved by food. The patient's weight decreased from 170 to 150 lb. in the six months before admission.