1984 Volume 26 Issue 8 Pages 1344-1350_1
Ten cases of rectal ulcer, presenting fresh bloody stool with characteristic clinical feature and endoscopic appearance were reported. Sex ratio was 9 to 1 with female preponderance. All were old-aged and had serious underlying disorders, which included 6 with cerebral vascular accident, 2 with fracture of femoral bone and pneumonia, one with diabetic ketoacidosis, one with heart failure and pneumonia. Characteristic endoscopic appearances of the lesion was shallow, irregular and geographical or circumferential ulcer, which was situated in the terminal rectum immediately proximal to the dentate line occupying one third to entire circumference of the rectum. Although hemorrhage from the ulcer was f regnenthy massive, successful hemostasis was obtained by adequate means such as gauze tamponade or surgical ligation of eroding vassels. Clinical course differed in a variety of underlying disorders. However, rectal ulcer per se healed well with scar formation whihin 20 days from the onset. Previously Kono et al. reported 2 cases of rectal ulcer as "acute hemorrhagic rectal ulcer" with similar clinical features and endoscopic appearances to those reported in this paper, suggesting rather frequent occurrence of the disorder. In this paper, we advocate Kono's "acute hemorrhagic rectal ulcer" as a clinical entity, stressing its relatively high frequency and importance in Japanese aged generations.
