VAGECTOMY for the treatment of peptic ulcer is in the stage of clinical trial, and final conclusions as to its place in therapy are not yet warranted. The gross anatomy of the supradiaphragmatic portion of the vagus nerves and the psysiologic changes that follow their resection have been carefully studied and reported. However, the literature contains only one reference to microscopic study of the portions of nerve removed at operation, and in this report1 no deviations from the normal were described. The purpose of this communication is to present the microscopic observations in specimens of vagus nerves removed at operation from patients with duodenal ulcer. These findings are compared with those encountered in a series of specimens of the same portion of the nerves removed at autopsy from persons showing no evidence of any pathologic condition in the gastrointestinal tract.
In evaluating the results of this study, it is