The gastric mucosa in radiologically negative acute gastrointestinal bleeding

EDITORIAL SYNOPSIS This is a studv of acid secretion and gastric mucosal histology in patients who had gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients with normal biopsies had high acid secretion and were believed to have acute or chronic duodenal ulcer; those with chronic gastritis and lower acid secre- tion suggested that the bleeding was due to acute gastric ulceration. The gastric mucosae of 22 additional patients with bleeding acute gastric ulcers removed surgically all showed chronic gastritis. In the main group of 30 patients studied there was no clear-cut histological difference between those patients taking aspirin and those who had not.