Surgical treatment of the bleeding peptic ulcer

Sixty-six patients were subjected to operation for a bleeding ulcer, 14 of them died. There was little difference between the results of truncal vagotomy and resection, in contrast to reports in the literature that vagotomy gave better results especially in duodenal ulcer. Emphasis is laid on the importance of locating the hemorrhage preoperatively. The mortality rate of the operation is determined to a significant extent by the patient's condition at the time of onset of the hemorrhage.