Vagotomy

A vagotomy is a surgical procedure that is performed only in humans. It is resection of part of the vagus nerve.The operation was popular up until the mid-1990s as a way of treating peptic ulcer disease, and preventing its recurrence. It was thought that peptic ulcer disease was due to excess secretion of the acid environment in the stomach, or at least that peptic ulcer disease was made worse by hyperacidity. Vagotomy was a way to reduce the acidity of the stomach, by denervating the peptic cells that produce acid. This was done with the hope that it would treat or prevent peptic ulcers. It also had the effect of reducing or eliminating symptoms of gastro-esophageal reflux in those who suffered from it.The incidence of vagotomy decreased following the discovery by Barry Marshall and Robin Warren that Helicobacter pylori is responsible for most peptic ulcers. The first-line treatment for peptic ulcer disease, if due to H. pylori, is "triple therapy": 2 antibiotics and a proton pump inhibitor . However, in chronic ulceration or in gastric outlet obstruction there is still an important role for truncal vagotomy.A plain vagotomy is a very destructive procedure, since all the parasympathetic supply from the stomach to the left side of the transverse colon relies on the vagus nerves. The gut will still function without vagus supply, but less well.Vagotomy technique was therefore improved by restricting resection to only those branches that go to the stomach , and further by selecting only those branches that appear to supply peptic cells .Humans have two vagus nerves, whose fibres decussate and intermingle around the stomach. Accordingly, a vagotomy operates on both nerves simultaneously and in practise there is no need or way to make a distinction between them. (From the Wikpedia article Vagotomy.)

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Recent Publications on Vagotomy:
Bilateral vagotomy inhibits apnea and attenuates other physiological responses after blunt chest trauma. BACKGROUND: Behind armor blunt trauma (BABT) is defined as the...	12th June, 2008	Department of Clinical Science and Education, Karolinska Institute at	J Trauma. 2008 Jun;64(6):1420-6. DOI Direct Link
Ovalbumin sensitizes vagal pulmonary C-fiber afferents in Brown Norway rats. Sensitization of vagal lung C fibers has been postulated to contribute to...	7th June, 2008	Institute of Neuroscience, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan - Republic	J Appl Physiol. 2008 Jun 5;. DOI Direct Link
Orexigenic hormone ghrelin attenuates local and remote organ injury after intestinal ischemia-reperfusion. BACKGROUND: Gut ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is a serious condition...	29th May, 2008	The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, New York, United	PLoS ONE. 2008 Apr 23;3(4):e2026. DOI Direct Link
CDP-choline prevents cardiac arrhythmias and lethality induced by short-term myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in the rat: involvement of central muscarinic cholinergic mechanisms. In the present study, we aimed to determine whether...	28th May, 2008	Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology,	Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol. 2008 May 27;. DOI Direct Link
Vagotomy enhances experimental metastases of 4THMpc breast cancer cells and alters Substance P level. We have previously demonstrated that inactivation of capsaicin-sensitive...	24th May, 2008	Department of internal Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey; The	Regul Pept. 2008 Apr 3;. DOI Direct Link
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Vagotomy Clinical Trials:
Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding With Truncal Vagotomy	Morbid Obesity;   Obstructive Sleep Apnea;   Hypertension;   Urinary Incontinence;   Hypertriglyceridemia;   Diabetes;   Hypercholesterolemia
Safety and Efficacy of Laparoscopic Truncal Vagotomy for the Treatment of Obesity	Morbid Obesity

Vagotomy Patents:
US Patent No.	Title
6670394	Method for treating COPD
6939690	Polynucleotides encoding motilin homologs
6951882	Substituted 4-phenyl-[1,3]-dioxanes
6960601	Preparation and use of imidazole derivatives for treatment of obesity
6974568	Treatment for cough
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