Gastric Ulcers Produced Experimentally by Vascular Ligation

VIRCHOW'S hypothesis1that human gastric ulcers were vascular in origin led to several attempts to reproduce similar lesions in animals by ligation of the gastric vessels. For the most part no significant results were obtained. Dogs were generally used, and short of total interference with the blood supply ligation had no effect on the intactness of the stomach.2This was largely due to a highly efficient collateral circulation. There is a complete circle of anastomoses around the two curvatures of the canine stomach,3and when the main arteries are tied the blood flow through intercommunicating branches is sufficient to maintain the nutrition of the organ. In human beings4the anatomic arrangement of the blood supply of the stomach is practically the same as that in dogs. Recently, Somervell5tied the gastric arteries in a large series of cases of duodenal ulcer, and no complications referable