LAPAROSCOPIC SURGERY FOR DUODENAL-ULCER - FIRST RESULTS OF A MULTICENTER STUDY APPLYING A PERSONAL PROCEDURE

Between January 1991 and February 1995 data were gathered on 136 patie nts operated on in 14 surgical centres, All patients underwent posteri or truncal vagotomy (PTV) and anterior linear gastrectomy (ALG) for ch ronic duodenal ulcer. Recurrence and repeated bleeding were the main i ndications for surgery. An antireflux technique was simultaneously car ried out in 17 patients, while 13 underwent cholecystectomy, There wer e no peroperative complications or deaths, and the mean duration of op eration was 65 (range 25-180) min. Immediate postoperative morbidity r ate was 2.9 per cent, with a mean hospital stay of 3.1 (range 2-13) da ys. A total of 131 patients were evaluated between 6 and 33 (mean 25) months after operation. Of these, 126 (96.2 per cent) were graded as V isick I or II, Four (3.0 per cent) were Visick III, and one patient (0 .8 per cent) was considered Visick IV. Gastric function studies were p erformed in 45 patients before and after operation, with a maximum aci d output reduction of 83 per cent 3 months after the operation. Laparo scopic PTV with ALG constitutes a simple, efficient, rapid and safe me thod in the treatment of patients with chronic duodenal ulcer.