[Severe digestive hemorrhage. Place and results of arterial embolization (author's transl)].

Arterial embolization for hemostatic purposes in digestive hemorrhage was carried out in 11 cases of acute hemorrhage and in 2 cases of chronic hemorrhage. In all cases (11) in which selective embolization was possible, immediate hemostasis was obtained. The two hemorrhagic relapses observed later were due to carcinomatous lesions. There was only one serious complication in the form of ischemic stenosis after jejunal embolization. Embolization is the method of choice in all cases in which surgery is contra-indicated. Apart from this category of patients of which the prognosis remains bad in spite of hemostasis, there are other indications in which embolization may permit in spite of a reasonable risk, transformation of emergency surgery into cold surgery with lesser mortality. Finally, in a few cases hemostasis alone and medical treatment may prove to be sufficient and avoid any further surgical operation.