Acute perforated duodenal ulcer. An evaluation of surgical management.

The surgical management of acute perforated duodenal ulcer has been evaluated in 360 patients. Simple closure was done in 254 patients, with a mortality of 6.7%, a morbidity of 21%, and an average hospital stay of 11.9 days. In 106 patients (29%) who underwent definitive operation for treatment of duodenal ulcer disease at time of perforation, the mortality was 2.8%, the morbidity was 15%, and the average hospital stay was nine days. Follow-up studies of simple closure in patients with no previous ulcer symptoms showed that 72% of the patients remained asymptomatic; in patients with previous ulcer symptoms, only 23% were asymptomatic. Definitive operation for acute perforation is indicated in good-risk patients who have a history of ulcers. Parietal cell vagotomy and simple closure was used in four patients with excellent early results.