Table Iii Pre - Operative Histories of Male Patients Developing Stomal Ulcers after Polya Gastrectomy and of All Con - Trol Male Polya Gastrectomy Patients from the Central Middlesex

Previous studies have suggested that patients operated upon for duodenal ulcer who have a previous history of perforation or haemorrhage are particularly liable to haemorrhage after operation from a proved or probable stomal ulcer (Langman, 1965). The cause of this association is unknown but there is evidence that patients of blood group 0 are particularly prone to duodenal ulcer haemorrhage (Langman and Doll, 1965), and to stomal ulcer irrespective of its symptoms (Doll, Swynnerton, and Newell, 1960); it follows therefore that if blood group is the common factor in liability to duodenal ulcer bleeding and to stomal ulcer then stomal ulcer patients in general should have an increased likelihood of duodenal ulcer haemorrhage in their pre-operative symptoms. A retrospective analysis has therefore been made of the records of patients admitted to three London hospitals for the treatment of a stomal ulcer to determine whether they have an increased frequency of pre-operative ulcer haemorrhage compared with unselected control patients operated upon for duodenal ulcer.