In 1953 a study1 of the effect of cholecystectomy upon the stomach and duodenum was carried out in an attempt to learn more about the distressing postcholecystectomy syndrome. In that investigation, 75 patients were submitted to a gastroduodenal x-ray series before cholecystectomy, and this procedure was repeated several months to two years following gallbladder removal. Although little light was shed upon the cause of the syndrome, it was demonstrated that post-cholecystectomy symptoms, such as colic, belching, indigestion, and heartburn, were not associated with abnormal x-ray findings of the stomach and duodenum.
The present communication concerns itself with a further attempt to uncover more information about the pathological physiology and clinical disturbances which sometimes occur after gallbladder excision.
Persistent pain and indigestion after cholecystectomy have been attributed by Russell, Carter, Oppenheim,2 and others to increased intraductal pressure resulting from sphincter of Oddi spasm, and they have labeled this condition