A total of 288 cases of upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding were clinically reviewed, who were admitted to Chonnam University Hospital during 8 years from January 1968 to December 1975.
The following results were obtained;
1) The incidence of upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding was 3.65% of all patients (7, 890 cases) admitted to our surgical department.
2) The predominant diseases producing upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding were peptic ulcer (43.1%), esophageal varices (24.7%), gastritis (14.6%) and gastric cancer (13.5%) in this order.
3) The age and sex incidence of gastrointestinal of gastrointestinal tract bleeding revealed
a greater prevalence in male, 5th decades, with a ratio of 6.6 males to 1 females.
4) On admission, combined hematemesis and melena were noted in 146 patients(50.7%),
hematemesis in 113 patients(39.2%) and melena in 29 patients(10.1%).
5) 141 patients(49.0%) had massive upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding with lower Hb
level (below the 7 gm%) and 109 patients(37.8%) were moderated.
6) The seasonal distribution showed the peak with 28.5% in Autumn and 26.4% in Summer. 7) 14 patients(4.8%) had massive transfusion over 5, 000 ml of whole blood and most patients were 1, 000~2, 000 ml.
8) 163 patients(56.4%) received operation, while remainder were conservative treatment. 9) Among the operated cases, subtotal gastrectomy(28.8%) were most common procedure. 10) Postoperative complications were 42 cases(14.4%) which were sustained bleeding, hepatic
failure, pneumonia and wound disruption.
11) The over all mortality rate 15.6% (45 cases) and the mortality rate for patients receiv-ing surgical treatment were 6.6%(19 cases), while for the conservatives were 9.0%(26 cases). The cause of death were mainly due to sustained bleeding and hepatic failure.
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