[Acute stress mucosal lesion of the upper gastrointestinal tract after burn--a clinical and endoscopic analysis of 31 cases].

31 burned patients were studied by fiber-endoscopy. We found that the incidence rate of acute stress mucosal lesion (ASML) of upper gastrointestinal tract was 100% in which burns involved more than 30% of total body surface. The degree of severity of ASML appeared to be influenced by the areas of the burn and the duration between examination and occurrence of burn. It was also related to the existence of complications. The study of endoscopic findings revealed that ASML had a special development course. It consisted of congestion, edema, erosion, bleeding and ulceration. The acute ulceration was only a part of the whole course. The incidence rate of the stress ulcer of this group was 27.6%. The bleeding rate was 34.5%. The bile reflux was 87% in 29 patients. Endoscopic examination can not only recognize the nature of the ASML, but also can collect the incidence rate accurately and find the location of the bleeding and ulcer in time. So this provided an important method for the etiological study. If the examination is well prepared and handled carefully, the procedure is very safe.