Jurg Metzger, Felix Harder, Markus von Flue Gastric Substitutes

Annotation

TONY AMERY In 1897, the Swiss surgeon Carl Schlatter carried must use this knowledge and experience to select out the first successful total gastrectomy for gas- the reconstruction procedure which will leave the tric cancer. Three years earlier, Haberkant of patient with the fewest postoperative problems. Danzig reported a mortality rate of 54.4% in a Currently, the tried and trusted Roux-en-Y re- collection of 257 resections for gastric cancer. construction is the most favoured procedure, but Over the last 100 years there have been radical the search for a better alternative will continue changes in surgical care, which have produced and Dr. Metzgers study using the ileocolic seg- massive reductions in the risks associated with ment both experimentally in the pig and in hu- such procedures. The introduction of prophylac- mans suggests that this stomach substitute could tic surgical antisepsis by Semmelweiss and Lister in the longer term be a better proposition.