Complicated peptic ulceration in a child.

The dual complications of haemorrhage and perforation from a peptic ulcer only rarely co-exist synchronously in adults and even more rarely in children. We report a case in an adolescent.

Implications of a sclerotherapy program for the medical and surgical care of bleeding in portal hypertension.

The results of endoscopic sclerotherapy are promising and, at first sight, this technique offers a relatively simple and widely available method of achieving definitive control and preventing rebleeding from the esophageal varices. While it is an attractive option to operation, there is a small but significant group of patients, both at initial presentation and follow-up examination, in whom sclerotherapy is inappropriate. It remains to be determined whether shunt operation or a gastric vascularization procedure is superior. It must be remembered that surgical intervention may be required for a number of nonvariceal complications which may arise in patients with portal hypertension. Despite the apparent simplicity of endoscopic sclerotherapy, the management of these patients unquestionably requires a team of physicians, surgeons and nurses with back-up facilities from other personnel who are experienced in this problem, if mortality is to be kept to a minimum. The management of bleeding esophageal varices requires considerably more than a simple injection of sclerosant into a varix and a chronic sclerotherapy program imposes a large and inevitably increasing workload on a gastroenterologic unit.

Gastric lesions in portal hypertension: inflammatory gastritis or congestive gastropathy?

This paper reports the incidence and natural history of macroscopic gastritis in a series of 127 consecutive patients with portal hypertension of various aetiologies. Gastritis was observed endoscopically in 65 patients (51%) and was of two main types. Twenty eight patients had severe or persistent gastritis which caused clinically significant bleeding on 80 occasions and accounted for 25% of the bleeds from all sources. The remainder had mild gastritis. The presence of gastritis seemed to be independent of the severity of liver disease or the degree of rise of wedged hepatic venous pressure and there was no difference in age, sex, or drugs prescribed in patients with or without gastritis. The mean follow up period and the mean number of sclerotherapy treatments was significantly greater (p less than 0.005) in patients with gastritis. Full thickness gastric biopsies in seven surgical patients and 11 autopsy specimens showed dilated and tortuous submucosal veins. Endoscopic biopsies in 14 patients showed vascular ectasia in the mucosal layer which was in excess of the degree of inflammatory infiltrate. Gastritis occurred in patients with portal hypertension of all common aetiologies and the clinical and pathological evidence supports the contention that it reflects a congested gastric mucosa and should be renamed congestive gastropathy. As injection sclerotherapy improves survival from variceal bleeding congestive gastropathy may become more common. The response to conventional ('anti-erosive') therapy is poor and measures aimed at reducing the gastric portal pressure may be the only effective means of treating this condition.

Attitudes to follow-up after uncomplicated surgery--hospital out-patients or general practitioner?

The attitude of 216 patients, 10 hospital doctors and 80 general practitioners (GPs) to hospital follow-up after uncomplicated surgery for non-malignant disease was assessed. Hospital doctors felt that most patients (86%) could have been satisfactorily followed-up by their GP and in most cases (89%), the GP was willing to provide the service. However, 183 patients (85%) found their visit to hospital out-patients worthwhile and only 41 patients (19%) would have preferred to have visited their GP instead. In fact, 157 patients (73%) had already seen their GP before their return to surgical out-patients. In most cases, hospital follow-up appears to be unnecessary. In this series, if suitable post-operative patients were followed-up by their GP, there would be a reduction of 20% in the number of old patients returning to out-patients.

Perforating veins and blood flow in oesophageal varices.

Blood-flow patterns in oesophageal varices were studied by doppler ultrasound (18 patients) and injection radiography (34 patients). Both techniques demonstrated that blood flow is not always in the expected cephalad direction but is often towards the stomach. Doppler studies indicated that there are functioning perforating veins joining oesophageal varices to the peri-oesophageal veins, particularly at the lower end of the oesophagus. The presence of these perforators was confirmed by intravariceal injection radiography and also at necropsy. The turbulent flow caused by these veins may explain why variceal rupture commonly occurs just above the gastrooesophageal junction. Successful treatment of oesophageal varices with the minimum of sclerotherapy treatments may depend on early obliteration of the incompetent perforating veins.

Abdominal drainage following cholecystectomy: high, low, or no suction?

A prospective trial to assess the effect of suction in an abdominal drain following cholecystectomy was carried out. Three types of closed drainage system were compared: a simple tube drain, a low negative pressure drain, and a high negative pressure drain: 120 consecutive patients undergoing cholecystectomy were randomly allocated to one of the three drainage groups. There was no significant difference in postoperative pyrexia, wound infection, chest infection, or hospital stay. This study failed to demonstrate any clinically useful difference between high negative pressure, low negative pressure, and static drainage system were compared: a simple tube drain, a low negative used, suction is not necessary and a simple tube drain (greater than 6 mm internal diameter) is the most effective form of drainage.