[Characteristic features of the atrophic border of gastric ulcers in elderly]

We studied the characteristic features of gastric ulcers in 50 elderly cases (over 60 years old) concerning 2 points. Initially, we compared the clinical features of the elderly patients with those of the non-elderly (under 60 years old) patients. Secondly, we compared the endoscopic appearance of the atrophic border of elderly patients with that of elderly persons without gastric ulcer, using the Takemoto and Kimura's classification of endoscopic atrophic borders. The results were that elderly patients with gastric ulcer had few symptoms. The symptoms associated with bleeding, however, were recognized. Many of them had some complications. There was no difference in the healing rate at 8 weeks from the beginning of the treatment by histamine H2-receptor blocker (H2 blocker) between the elderly and non-elderly with gastric ulcer. Concerning the endoscopic atrophic border of the elderly persons without ulcers, the number of the open type cases was significantly greater than that of the closed type. On the contrary, in elderly persons with gastric ulcer, the number of the closed type was significantly greater than that of the open type, especially the number of C-2 type was the greatest. The healing rate of the elderly with closed type border was higher than that of elderly cases with open type border in 4 and 8 weeks from the beginning of the treatment.