Haematemesis in an African medical ward

Abstract

Between 1957 and 1963, 63 male patients were admitted under my care to Harare African hospital. They were suffering from acute haematemesis from the upper gastrointestinal tract. The bleeding in each case was sufficient to necessitate the patient’s early admission to hospital. In some cases it stopped quickly, but in others it was so severe that the patient succumbed rapidly or. in the case of those with liver disease, some passed into coma and died.