Bleeding peptic ulcer. 10 years' experience.

From 1972 to 1981, 430 patients were treated for bleeding peptic ulcer. Two hundred ten of the patients were treated surgically and 220 medically. In the surgically treated patients, mortality was high among those with posterior duodenal peptic ulcer and after gastrectomy rather than after vagotomy. Mortality after emergency operations was also high. The incidence of rebleeding was similar after gastrectomy and after vagotomy. In the medically treated patients, mortality was high among those who were elderly.