Vagotomies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The medical techniques that entail severing the vagus nerve to decrease stomach acid production
2. Surgical interventions focused on disrupting vagal nerve pathways to alleviate gastrointestinal conditions
3. Procedures that involve severing the vagus nerve to lower acid secretion in the stomach

Etymology: "Vagotomies" is the plural of "vagotomy", a surgical procedure in which the vagus nerve is cut. The vagus is one of the body's longest nerves, running from the brain down through the chest and abdomen, and it carries signals that stimulate acid production in the stomach. Cutting it reduces that acid, which is why the operation was once used to treat peptic ulcers. The word is built from two parts. "Vago-" comes from "vagus", the Latin word for "wandering", a name that reflects the nerve's long, meandering path through the body. The second part, "-tomy", derives from Ancient Greek "temnein", meaning "to cut", and appears in many surgical terms such as "appendectomy" and "lobotomy" to mean cutting out or into an organ or tissue.