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Postoperative gastric ileus

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Abstract

Gastric emptying was measured in healthy, trained, unanesthetized dogs before and after surgical manipulation of the intestine and/or treatment with bretylium. Gastric content was found to decline exponentially with time. The pattern of emptying could be defined by the volume remaining in the stomach 10 minutes after the start of feeding and by the slope of the exponential decline in volume of the contents (the rate of gastric emptying). Laparotomy with intestinal manipulation induced gastric retention, but laparotomy alone (sham operation) did not change the rate of gastric emptying. Bretylium, an adrenergic blocking drug, suppressed the postoperative gastric ileus without significantly altering gastric emptying in control animals. Our observations support the classical assumption of a sympathetic hyperactivity during postoperative ileus and suggest that adrenergic blocking agents may be useful in the treatment of paralytic ileus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Clinical Science, Natinal Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, 20014, Bethesda, Maryland

    André Dubois MD, August M. Watanabe MD & Irwin J. Kopin MD

  2. Laboratory of Experimental Surgery, University Hospital, Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium

    André Dubois MD, August M. Watanabe MD & Irwin J. Kopin MD

Authors
  1. André Dubois MD
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  2. August M. Watanabe MD
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  3. Irwin J. Kopin MD
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Additional information

The information reported herein was previously presented to the Third International Symposium on Gastrointestinal Motility, Stockholm. Sweden, 1971.

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Dubois, A., Watanabe, A.M. & Kopin, I.J. Postoperative gastric ileus. Digest Dis Sci 18, 39–42 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01072236

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01072236

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