Effect of the Oral Administration of Vitamin B₁₂ to Patients under Distal and Total Gastrectomy

Michihiro Orihata, Syuichi Kato, Hirohisa Takeuchi, Makoto Hata, Minoru Moriwaki and Teruo Kakegawa

Department of Surgery, International Goodwill Hospital

Objectives: At high dosage, orally administered vitamin B₁₂ is absorded by a gradient of concentration, not by an intrinsic factor. We studied the effect of oral administration of Mecobalamin (Methicobal) to patients undergoing distal and total gastrectomy. Methods : Eleven patients undergoing distal gastrectomy B-1 and 8 total gastrectomy R-Y were orally administered 1.5 mg/day of Mecobalamin, devided into 3 times/day, for 4 weeks. Blood levels of vitamin B₁₂ were measured. Results: In distal gastrectomy, blood levels of vitamin B₁₂, preceding and after 2 and 4 weeks administration of Mecobalamin, were 412+/-33, 581+/-62, and 701+/-94 pg/ml. In total gastrectomy, they were 312+/-40, 440+/-34, and 469+/-30 pg/ml. Oral Mecobalamin administration increased vitamin B₁₂ blood levels in patients undergoing both types of surgery. The correlation between the vitamin B₁₂ blood levels before administration and increasing vitamin B₁₂ after 4 weeks of administration was a significant positive correlation in distal gastrectomy but tended to be negative in total gastrectomy. Conclusion: Oral Mecobalamin administration at the usual dosage effectively provided patients undergoing distal and total gastrectomy with vitamin B₁₂ and easily controlled at the clinic.

Key words
oral administration of vitamin B₁₂ (Mecobalamin), distal gastrectomy, total gastrectomy

Reprint requests
Michihiro Orihara Department of Surgery, International Goodwill Hospital 1-28-1 Nishigaoka, Izumi-ku, Yokohama, 245-0006, JAPAN

Accepted
January 31, 2001

To read the PDF file you will need Abobe Reader installed on your computer.