Acute gastric changes in patients with acute stroke. Part 1: with reference to gastroendoscopic findings.

A gastroendoscopic study was performed on 177 patients with acute stroke. Gastric changes were found in 92 among them (52%), including ten with acute ulcer. A high frequency of gastric changes was found in patients with serious stroke and/or in patients whose cerebral lesions were located close to the hypothalamus or its centrifugal tract. The mortality in patients with gastric changes was high, especially in patients with acute ulcers, multiple erosions and petechiae. The frequency of brown gastric juice and coffee grounds at gastroendoscopic examination (gastric hemorrhage) was three times as high as that of melena and/or hematoemesis. On the other hand, the mortality of patients with gastric hemorrhage differed little from that of patients with melena and/or hematoemesis.