Perforated Peptic Ulcer

Abstract

Perforated gastric ulcer. Not all free perforations of gastric ulcers are susceptible to simple plication techniques. Often the ulcer is large and surrounded by edema. When the perforation occurs on the posterior surface of the antrum, adequate repair by plication techniques is generally not possible. Gastric ulcers have a high rate of recurrence. For these reasons, in a good-risk patient in whom the diagnosis of perforation has been made reasonably early, gastric resection is preferred to simple plication. If for technical reasons a sound plication cannot be constructed, gastric resection is mandatory, regardless of the risk, as a recurrent gastric leak into the peritoneal cavity is almost always fatal.