The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 55, 1571-1573, Copyright © 1993 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Staged antrectomy and thoracoscopic truncal vagotomy for perforated peptic ulcer disease
TC Axford, DG Clair, MM Bertagnolli, SJ Mentzer and DJ Sugarbaker
Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
We report the case of a 40-year-old man with a perforated duodenal ulcer
who underwent antrectomy at laparotomy, and in whom standard truncal
vagotomy was not technically possible due to an intraabdominal abscess.
Thoracoscopic truncal vagotomy performed at the level of the inferior
pulmonary vein was successful in completely eliminating symptoms due to
peptic ulcer disease without producing clinically significant morbidity.
The minimal morbidity and short hospital stay suggest that thoracoscopic
truncal vagotomy provides a reasonable alternative in patients with
complicated intraabdominal abscesses due to peptic ulcer disease.