Emergency endoscopy in upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Emergency endoscopy was done in 306 patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Most of the patients were in the age group 20—39 years. Male to female ratio was 2.3:1. The main causes of bleeding were peptic ulcer (40.1 8%), oesophageal varices (32.4%) and superficial mucosal lesions (13.9%). Causes of bleeding remained obscure in 7.2% cases; dual lesions were seen in 2.94%. Complete follow up was available in 83.8% cases of portal hypertension and 69.10% peptic ulcers. Overall mortality in portal hypertension and peptic ulcer was 42.4% and 13.2%, respectively. Poor correlation was found between clinical and endoscopic diagnosis (JPMA 38 : 30, 1988).