Truncal Vagotomy Reduces Parkinson Disease Risk

Truncal vagotomy is a surgical procedure that functionally denervates and disconnects multiple organs, including the stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, small intestine, and proximal colon. Selective vagotomy disconnects only the stomach. Swedish investigators used a national registry to attempt to determine whether vagotomy reduces later risk for developing Parkinson disease (PD). Using a matched-cohort study design, these authors compared 9430 patients who had previously undergone vagotomy (3445 truncal, 5978 selective, 7 unknown type) with a control group matched for sex and birth year. One advantage of the registry was that the authors followed patients from the time of the surgical procedure until PD was identified, the patient died…