A prospective study of 200 endoscopically proven cases of duodenal ulcer
Tsega, E.; Mengistu, M.
Ethiopian Medical Journal 24(3): 113-121
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0014-1755 PMID: 3720732 Document Number: 270225
The clinical profile of 200 Ethiopian patients with endoscopically confirmed duodenal ulcer was studied according to a prospectively formulated protocol. The peak age incidence of duodenal ulcer was between 30 and 40 years, about 10 years younger than in the Western world. In contrast to reports from other parts of Africa, the male-to-female ratio was 3:1 in this study. Duodenal ulcer in Ethiopia appeared to have no predilection for a particular ethnic or professional group. Also, blood-group typing revealed a distribution of blood-group types not different from that of the general population. The commonest location of duodenal ulcer was noted to be the posterior wall of the duodenal bulb, and 55% of all cases revealed 2 or more ulcers. Using aggregates of typical signs and symptoms, duodenal ulcer was diagnosed only in 46% of the cases; i.e., there is a wide overlap of signs and symptoms among patients with duodenal ulcer, and the diagnosis can only be made reliably by barium meal and/or endoscopic examination, the former with only 83% diagnostic accuracy. The commonest complication was bleeding, but not gastric outflow obstruction.