Abstract

A group of 133 patients treated for bleeding peptic ulcer in our Department, is reviewed. Within several hours of admission, all patients underwent upper gastrointestinal tract gastroscopy and obliteration of the bleeding ulcer. Bleeding gastric ulcers were found in 41 patients, and duodenal ulcers in 92 patients. Patients were classified according to the Forrest scale: IA – 11 patients, IB – 49 patients, IIA – 35 patients, lIB – 40 patients. In 126 (94.7%) patients the bleeding was stopped, and 7 required urgent surgery: 3 patients with gastric ulcer underwent gastrectomy, and 4 with duodenal ulcer – truncal vagotomy with pyloroplasty and had the bleeding site underpinned. Fifty-five patients underwent elective surgery: gastrectomy and vagotomy (18 patients with gastric ulcer), highly selective vagotomy (25 patients with duodenal ulcer) and truncal vagotomy and pyloroplasty (12 patients with duodenal ulcer). None of the patients was observed to have recurrent bleeding.