Surgery of Peptic Ulcer

Abstract

PEPTIC ULCER is a term used commonly to include both gastric and duodenal ulceration. It seems best to consider both these forms of ulceration together, although the problem is different in some respects. The point where these two types of ulcer differ is where the question of malignancy influences operation and, of course, this question only enters our minds when gastric ulcer is found. Malignancy is, for practical purposes, non-existent in duodenal ulcer. Figure 1 shows the areas most frequently affected by peptic ulcer. In the last twenty years the use of the x-ray, and in the last ten to fifteen years the use of the fluoroscope, have entirely changed our ideas as to the frequency of peptic ulcer. The x-ray has given us a means of diagnosis which has proved in large groups of cases to be exceedingly accurate. The etiology, anatomy and pathology, and symptoms of peptic ulcer were discussed in a paper by Dr. L. C. Gatewood, published in this Journal in December, 1931, and will, therefore, not be considered again here.