Duodenal ulcer in South Indian children

Twenty-nine children with duodenal ulcer received treatment during an 18 year period. Twenty-five were followed over a period that ranged from 3 to 18 years; 53.8 percent of the patients who received medical treatment either had recurrence or persistence of ulcer symptoms during adolescence or adulthood. Two patients with acute bleeding ulcers have remained well after vagotomy and drainage procedures. Pyloric stenosis was the most common indication for surgical intervention and in all such cases the patients underwent truncal vagotomy and drainage procedures and continue to live without any symptoms, except one in whom anastomotic ulcer due to incomplete vagotomy has developed.