[Massive hemorrhage caused by acute solitary gastric erosion Dieulafoy. Change of prognosis due to preoperative endoscopy (author's transl)].

In this report of three successfully operated cases of acute solitary gastric erosion--Ulcus Dieulafoy (U.D.), the anatomical and clinical characteristics of this rare gastric lesion are discussed. Due credit is given to reports of the literature. As born out by experience, conservative treatment of bleeding U.D. is usually lethal. Judged from statistical evaluation, surgical intervention has proven to be unsuccessful in many cases. This is directly related to the problem of intraoperative localisation, which, in turn, may lead to illadvised procedures. With acurate localisation of the lesion, surgical management yields good to excellent results. Acute endoscopy as a routine procedure in gastrointestinal hemorrhage in our experience is the key to success, leading to a possibly decisive change in the prognosis of U.D.