[Therapeutic modalities in upper gastrointestinal tract hemorrhage]

During the observed 5 year period 428 patients were hospitalized because of upper digestive tract hemorrhages. The commonest cause of hemorrhage was the peptic ulcer (46.5%). The bleeding duodenal ulcer occurs more often than the stomach ulcer (55.2% to 44.8%). These patients are usually of older age (more than 50% of men and 46% women in whom duodenal ulcer bleeding occurs are older than 60 years of age). In about half of ulcers (40%) acute bleeding occurs during the urgent endoscopic procedure. Oozing type of bleeding occurs most frequently (82.5%), while the most serious type of bleeding, aortic pulse, is much less frequent (7%). Fibrinous coagulum recidives in bleeding in about one fifth of cases. Active pulse bleeding is the cause of surgery in 66.7% as well as two thirds (75%) of recidivant bleedings. More than 80% of patients in whom gastroduodenal bleeding occurs are being conservatively treated and this percentage may be taken as an adequate choice of the therapy modality.