[Routine gastric fiber endoscopy in severe head injuries]. / Fibroscopie gastrique systématique chez les traumatisés crâniens graves

Gastric lesions in severe cranial trauma are almost constant, whether the patients have bled or not. Routine fiber endoscopy in 63 cases permited the authors to discover various types of lesion, some in association, whether diffuse or localised, e.g. oedema or congestion, viz. congestion, purpura, various sized ulcers, usually situated high up in the stomach, sometimes in the antrum ; their course, whether rapid or not, was often intermittent. Endoscopy is the best method of diagnosis permitting appropriate treatment.

[A propos of 210 emergency endoscopies in upper digestive hemorrhage]. / A propos de 210 endoscopies en urgence dans les hémorragies digestives hautes

The authors report their experience of 210 fiber endoscopies carried out as an emergency for upper digestive hemorrhage. They emphasize the necessity of early examination and only consider here examinations carried out within 12 hours from the start of the hemorrhage. In 91.4 % of cases, a correct diagnosis was possible. More than 20% of the patients had at least two lesions liable to cause hemorrhage. In cirrhosis, esophageal varices were the cause of hemorrhage in only 50% of cases.