Vagotomía altamente selectiva convencional versus modificación de Hill-Barker en la úlcera péptica duodenal

a prospective double-blinded randomized study was conducted for 20 years at "dr carlos j. finlay" military hospital, with the objective to compare highly selective conventional vagotomy (hsv) in 62 patients and hill barker′s modification, that is, anterior highly selective vagotomy with posterior truncal vagotomy (ahsv + ptv) in treating duodenal peptic ulcer. the average follow-up period was 10,8 years (range 2 to 20 years). there were neither complications nor deaths at surgery. ahsv + ptv showed significantly shorter surgical time than hsv. early postoperative complications were mostly slight and temporary in both groups, but diarrheas were more associated to ahsv+ptv. relapses occurred in 11,3 % of hsv and in 7,2 % of ahsv+ptv. the clinical results were satisfactory in 87 % of both groups and there was no significant association observed in the comparison of both techniques. it was proved that hill-barker modification is a choice due to its quick performance and less complexity.