THE INCIDENCE OF HEMORRHAGE IN PERFORATED GASTRIC AND DUODENAL ULCERS

Protocol.  —Perforated ulcers rarely bleed. Bleeding ulcers rarely perforate.Ulcers of the stomach and duodenum manifest themselves in various ways. They are selective in their location, their time of perforation and their incidence of hemorrhage. The varying degrees of morbidity caused by them depend to a large degree on their location. In searching for ulcers, physicians know from previous experience that the most likely site for their formation is the stomach and duodenum. Particularly are they prevalent along the lesser curvature of the stomach, the pylorus and the first portion of the duodenum. Ulcers that perforate are usually found in these places, but those that produce hemorrhage have not always the definite locations referred to. The reasons for these variations in the genesis of ulcers have never been definitely determined. Again, the fact that some ulcers may exist for years and never perforate or produce hemorrhage, but simply result in