Surgical Treatment of Complicated Duodenal Ulcer in Childhood

Abstract

Duodenal ulcer which occurs in childhood does not always respond satisfactorily to medical therapy.

A study of 109 patients at the Mayo Clinic showed that there is a 50 per cent chance that duodenal ulcer which begins in childhood will persist or recur in adolescence or adulthood if medical treatment alone is employed.

The authors present a study of 10 children who had surgical treatment for duodenal ulcer after medical measures had failed. Five patients had a posterior gastroenterostomy and five had a gastric resection. There were no surgical deaths, and eight traced patients developed normally without recurrence of ulcer.