A long term study of the iron status of patients following vagotomy.

The occurence of anemia following partial gastrectomy is well recognised: the reported incidence ranges from three to 63 per cent'. Iron deficiency is the commonest cause of the anaemia, deficiencies of either B12 or folic acid accounting for only a small number1. With the advent of vagotomy and drainage as the routine treatment for duodenal ulcer it was hoped that anaemia would no longer be a significant problem. However, Wheldon and associates2 found that truncal vagotomy with gastrojunostomy resulted in anaemia in 43.5 per cent of males and 84 per cent of females after 15 years. There are no published data comparing the incidence of anaemia in the long term after the various types of vagotomy with or without drainage. The purpose of this study is to compare the iron status of patients after six different types of vagotomy and drainage.