Post-gastrectomy Syndromes

The surgical treatment of peptic ulcer

“…Resection of over half of the stomach led to an appreciable incidence of malnutrition and dumping, whereas resection of less than 50 per cent of the stomach was followed by few postgastrectomy difficulties. Similar comparisons made by Corry and Cronin (1962) and by Wells and McPhee (1954) led to comparable conclusions.…”

Bacterial Content of Human Small Intestine in Disease of the Stomach

“…For example, Wells and Welbourn (1951) state that achlorhydria following gastrectomy causes " bacteria which normally inhabit the colon to grow freely all the way up the small intestine and in the gastric stump." This view -Ias arisen from studies of samples, generally only from the duodenum and the stomach, removed by passing a tube via the mouth (Knott, 1927: Ricen, Sears, andDowning, 1928;Torrey, Kahn, and Salinger, 1930;Dick, 1941, quoted by Bethell et al, 1942: French and Thompson, quoted by Frazer, 1949.…”

“…Further, this misconception has led to the suggestion that vitamin-B deficiencies in the post-gastrectomy syndrome (Welbourn, Hughes, and Wells, 1951;Wells and Welbourn. 1951), in the sprue syndrome, and possibly also in pernicious anaemia, pellagra, and nutritional megalocytic anaemia (Frazer, 1949) arise because bacteria invading the small intestine deprive the host of vitamins.…”

Computed tomography of chronic afferent loop obstruction: A case report and review

“…Although surgical procedures were soon developed to remedy this complication, it was not until the work of Roux [2] and Wells [3] that the anatomy and pathophysiology were well-understood. In the past the incidence of this syndrome was reported to be as high as 20% [4], although with modern surgical techniques it has been reduced to 0.3% [5].…”