Osteomalacia Following Partial Gastrectomy

ALTHOUGH defects in fat absorption after partial gastrectomy are widely appreciated,1 , 2 only a rare case of osteomalacia with such steatorrhea has been described in the literature. Pyrah and Smith3 reported a case diagnosed at the menopause, fourteen years after a subtotal gastrectomy (Polya operation) for gastric ulcer. These authors cited another patient in whom osteomalacia was found at the age of thirty, five years after gastrectomy. Three additional cases have been reported, occurring three, four and fifteen years after Polya anastomosis in postmenopausal women.4 Experimentally, total gastrectomy in growing puppies receiving vitamin D by mouth has produced severe "osteoporosis," with . . .