Comparison of four minimally invasive methods of laparoscopic vagotomy in a porcine model

Abstract

Background: An experimental study in a porcine model was undertaken to evaluate the currently available techniques of laparoscopic vagotomy.

Methods: Four groups of pigs were studied. Under general anesthesia, the animals were submitted to either bilateral vagotomy, bilateral highly selective vagotomy, posterior truncal vagotomy with anterior highly selective vagotomy, or Taylor's procedure. Gastric acid secretion and intestinal motility were evaluated before and after the surgical procedure. The feasibility of the four different techniques was assessed by means of a personal difficulty score.

Results: All four procedures produced significant acid secretory reduction. Multivariate analysis showed that the factor most affecting the outcome was the difficulty score.

Conclusions: Taylor's procedure was the easiest and safest technique. It also produced the best functional results for secretion and motility.