[Mortality in the emergency surgical management of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to ulcers and gastritis].

A retrospective study of 68 patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (excluding bleeding from esophageal varices) revealed that all patients had emergency surgery. The factors influencing the mortality and the recurrent bleeding have been sought. The overall mortality was 29.5%. Age of patients and type of surgical procedure did not affect the mortality raate, while chronicity of lesions and their duodenal location had a favourable influence. Most deaths were due to hypovolemic shock and its complications. Gastric resection with vagotomy is the operation of choice for control of bleeding. The authors present a brief review of the literature and stress the importance of early diagnosis and resuscitative measures, as well as the need for aggressive surgical intervention.