AIM:To determine and compare the effect of vagus nerveon gallbladder motility in patients with hepatic cirrhosisbefore and after portal azygous disconnection(PAD).METHODS:PAD operation(or Hassab’s operation)wasperformed on 18 patients with portal hypertension,andanterior and posterior vagal trunks were cut.On d 3 beforeoperation and d 10 after operation,~(99m)Tc-EHIDA 185 MBqwas administered intravenously to the patients,andscintigraphy was performed at 0.25 min/frame.A standardfat meal was administered 30 min after scintigraphy,anddynamic imaging was performed 60 min after the fat meal.Following appearance of the region of interest(ROI)ingallbladder,the time-activity curve of ROI was established.The following seven parameters were used:radioactivityat 30 min after injection of ~(99m)Tc-EHIDA(RC 30min),bileemptying fraction(EF),bile emptying period(EP),emptyingrate(ER),latent period(LP),latent period radiocountingincrement(LI),and latent period radiocounting incrementrate(LR).RESULTS:The RC 30 min decreased significantly after operation,compared with that before operation(2693.6±2406.9 vs5606.8±2625.4,P<0.05).The radiocounting of gallbladderincreased gradually during LP.LP after operation was significantlylonger than that before operation(13.36±5.92 vs 2.24±1.48,P<0.01).LI and LR after operation were significantlyhigher than those before operation(2861.62±028.3 vs331.21±421.02,and 113.42±49.52 vs 7.57±10.75,respectively,both P±0.01).EP after operation wassignificantly shorter than that before operation(18.5±6.3vs 24.1±6.4,P<0.05).EF and ER after operation weresignificantly lower than those before operation(13.1±5.4vs 32.3±16.3,and 0.74±0.3 vs 1.44±0.8,respectively,bothP±0.01).CONCLUSION:PAD operation is a good clinical model instudying the effect of vagus on gallbladder motility.Thegallbladder tension after PAD operation decreases significantly during the interdigestive phase.The latent period of gallbladdercontraction prolongs and the motility weakens apparentlyafter a standard fat meal.Human vagus influences thegallbladder motility,and cutting of the nerve inhibits thegallbladder motility.Jin HX,Wu SD,Zhang XF,Chen XY,Zhang GX.Gallbladdermotility in patients with hepatic cirrhosis before and afterportal azygous disconnection.World J Gastroenterol 2004;10(21):3230-3233http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/10/3230.asp AIM: To determine and compare the effect of vagus nerveon gallbladder motility in patients with hepatic cirrhosis before and after portal azygous disconnection (PAD). METHODS: PAD operation (or Hassab’s operation) wasperformed on 18 patients with portal hypertension, andanterior and posterior vagal trunks were cut.On d 3 beforeoperation and d 10 after operation, ~ (99m) Tc-EHIDA 185 MBqwas administered intravenously to the patients, and scintigraphy was performed at 0.25 min / frame. A standardfat meal was administered 30 min after scintigraphy, anddynamic imaging was performed The time-activity curve of ROI was established the following seven parameters were used: radioactivityat 30 min after injection of ~ (99m) Tc-EHIDA (60m after the fat meal. Popular appearance of the region of interest (ROI) ingallbladder, the time- RC 30 min), bileemptying fraction (EF), bile emptying period (EP), emptyingrate (ER), latent period (LP), latent period radiocounting increase (LI), and latent period radiocounting incrementrate he radiocounting of gallbladder in established initially after LP. LP after operation was significantly longer than that before operation (13.36 ± 5.92 vs 2.24 ± 1.48, P <0.01) .LI and LR after operation were significantlyhigher than those before operation (2861.62 ± 028.3 vs331.21 ± 421.02, and 113.42 ± 49.52 vs 7.57 ± 10.75, respectively, both P ± 0.01) Eff and ER after operation weresignificantly lower than those before operation (13.1 ± 5.4 vs. 32.3 ± 16.3, and 0.74 ± 0.3 vs 1.44 ± 0.8, respectively, bothP ± 0.01) .CONCLUSION: PAD operation is a good clinical model instudying the effect of vagus on gallbladder motility. The gallbladder tension after PAD operation decreases significantly during the interdigestive phase. The latent period of gallbladder contracting prolongs and the motility weake ns apparentlyafter a standard fat meal. Human vagus influences the gallbladder motility, and cutting of the nerve inhibits the gallbladder motility. Jin HX, Wu SD, Zhang XF, Chen XY, Zhang GX. Gallbladder motility in patients with hepatic cirrhosis before and afterportal azygous disconnection. World J Gastroenterol 2004; 10 (21): 3230-3233http: //www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/10/3230.asp