Perforated gastric and duodenal ulcers; an analysis of 73 cases.

In 73 cases of perforated gastroduodenal ulcers in which operation was done at St. Joseph's Hospital, San Francisco, during the ten-year period July 1939 to July 1949, the death rate was 13.7 per cent. In all but three of the cases, simple closure of the perforation was carried out. In 46 cases there were postoperative complications. Of this number, peritonitis and its sequelae comprised 35 per cent and pulmonary complications, 37 per cent. The mortality rate in the group in which these complications occurred was 35 per cent.