[Emergency endoscopy: its application in the department of medicine of a city hospital (author's transl)].

In about 90% of cases of active gastrointestinal hemorrage, sources and nature of bleeding can be identified exactly by means of emergency endoscopy. With time passing from the beginning of hemorrhage, diagnosis established by endoscopy is getting less precise. The most common cases of bleeding are peptic lesions, either esophageal, gastric, or duodenal; the most common site of hemorrhage is the stomach. Different potential points bleeding at the same time have to be take in account. A case report of Mallory-Weiss syndrome (13 episodes of hemorrhage) illustrated the method's value in establishing diagnosis of acute gastrointestinal bleeding. Special applications of emergency endoscopy in mental patients are described.