Fatal gastric hemorrhage: a complication of cardiorespiratory resuscitation.

Clinical courses of 16 patients with documented gastric trauma resulting from cardiopulmonary resuscitation were reviewed from seven published manuscripts (1-7). Three patients with gastric rupture survived the therapy (2, 3, 7), two ultimately died of their original disease, and one recovered completely (2). Of the 15 who died, the gastric trauma contributed very little to the fatal outcome of the patients. The case reported here suffered death from gastric mucosal lacerations caused by cardiopulmonary resuscitation resulting in a fatal massive gastric hemorrhage.