Gastrointestinal bleeding following head injury: a clinical study of 433 cases.

The incidence of gastrointestinal bleeding was studied in 433 patients with head injury. This complication has a strong correlation to the severity of the injury. Other factors such as shock, arterial pO2 and glucocorticoid administration were not related to incidence of gastrointestinal bleeding. Forty per cent of patients developed bleeding within 48 hours and approximately and additional 40% within one week. Only nine patients required more than 1,000 ml of blood, and eight of these died and one requiring emergency abdominal surgery lived.