EFFECTS OF SUPRADIAPHRAGMATIC SECTION OF THE VAGUS NERVES IN MAN

VARIOUS studies have been performed on a group of patients unde. going section of the vagus nerves for peptic ulceration¹ on the Thin (New York University) Surgical Division, Bellevue Hospital. Moreover, Dr. Frank B. Berry, Director of the First (College of Physicians and Surgeons) Surgical Division, has permitted us to make observations on a small group of patients undergoing similar procedures on that service.

We have outlined a plan of investigation devoting attention not only to alterations in gastric physiology but to other visceral functions proved or suggested by animal experimentation to be mediated through the vagus nerves. All of these studies require further pursuit and analysis. However, certain findings which seem to us to be of some significance are presented at this time. They are as follows: (1) the effect of alcohol intragastrically and intravenously on secretion of gastric acid, and its relation to the effect of histamine;