Patients suffering from duodenal ulcers are recommended for a surgical procedure known as vagotomy. The term vagotomy is often misunderstood for a vasectomy. In this procedure apart of the vagus nerve is surgically removed. This surgery has been successfully performed on the humans as well as animals.
When a patient is diagnosed with a duodenal ulcer, he may be treated with the triple therapy procedure. According to this procedure, the patient will be prescribed with a combination of antibiotics like clarithromycin ad amoxicillin or metronidazole. This is combined with a proton pump inhibitor like omeprazole. This is very useful especially when there is a gastric outlet obstruction.
According to latest research this surgery has been found to be very useful for the treatment of obesity as it leads to weight loss. Studies reveled that the surgery may affect the production of ghrelin in the human body.
The procedure for vagotomy has been improved in order to avoid destruction of the parasympathetic supply to the stomach. In the latest technique only those branches of nerves that go to the stomach are resected by a process known as selective vagotomy. In advanced procedures, only those nerves that appear to supply peptic cells are surgically removed and this is known as highly selective vagotomy.