Electromyographic Study on Motility of the Gastric Tube with Vagus Nerve Implantation for the Reconstruction of the Upper Alimentary Tract

The motor function of the gastric tube for esophageal reconstruction, when the esophagogastrostomy was performed after the resection of carcinoma of the lower esophagus and cardia, was disturbed owing to bilateral vagotomy, usually accompanied with those operative procedures. Electromyographic studies were performed on four groups of unanesthetized dogs with non-vagotomy, selective gastric vagotomy, truncal vagotomy and truncal vagotomy with vagal nerve implantation, respectively, using bipolar needle electrodes into the gastric wall. Basic electrical rhythm (BER) occurred regularly in non-vagotomy and selective vagotomy groups, but irregular patterns were frequently obserbed in truncal vagotomy groups with or without vagal nerve implantation, two weeks postoperatively. However, after meals, the BER became almost regular in all of the groups. The conduction velocity of the BER in the truncal vagotomy group with vagus nerve implantation was faster than that in the truncal vagotomy group without implantation, two weeks postoperatively. The conduction velocity in the SPV group was as fast as in the non-vagotomy group.