Duodenal ulcer perforation: have H2 receptor blockers reduced mortality?

Elective surgery for peptic ulcer is becoming rare with the use of more effective medical therapy. However, life threatening complications have not reduced in number. A retrospective study was carried out to compare perforation rates per 10,000 admissions, mortality rates from perforated duodenal ulcers per 10,000 admission and the proportion of patients with perforated duodenal ulcer who died, before and after the introduction of H2 receptor blockers in a large teaching hospital in South India. Perforation rates were not significantly different between the two periods under study. There was a small, but statistically significant (p = 0.047) drop in mortality per 10,000 admissions and a significant drop in proportion of patients with perforated ulcer who died (p = 0.028). Inspite of effective medical therapy, there is a subset of patients with duodenal ulcer who continue to perforate. Efforts should be directed towards identifying this subset and offering them early surgery. Mortality rates have not changed significantly.

Diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal angiodysplasia.

Eighteen patients with gastrointestinal angiodysplasia were seen in a single surgical unit over a period of 8 years. The mean age at onset of symptoms was 33 years. The average duration of symptoms was 54 months (range 2 days-16 years). Three patients had gastric angiodysplasia, two had colonic angiodysplasia, both diagnosed endoscopically preoperatively. The remaining patients required further investigation, which included small bowel enema (SBE), erythrocyte tagged scan (ETC), selective visceral angiography and intraoperative enteroscopy (IOE). SBE was useful but not diagnostic in 3, ETC in 3 and angiography in 5. Four patients required IOE for a diagnosis. Follow up of 17 months is available on all patients. Four had recurrence of symptoms. One required re-exploration and resection of 3 feet of small bowel and right hemicolectomy, another is on hormonal therapy and maintaining normal haemoglobin. Two others are asymptomatic on oral iron therapy.