From June 1984 to December 1987, endoscopic examination of the upper gastrointestinal tract was performed in 11 infants with hematomesis and/or melena. Six of them were male. Before examination, intravascular atropine sulfate 0.01mg/kg and hyoscine butylbromide 0.5mg/kg injections were given and lidocaine was sprayed on the posterior oropharynx. The patients were examined in left lateral decubitus position. The panendoscopes used were Olympus GIF X-P and X-P_10. In the all 11 patients, endoscopic examination demonstrated positive findings : esophageal ulcer and erosion in five, gastric ulcer in eight, gastric erosion in four, hemorrhagic gastritis in four, duodenal ulcer in one. Seven patients had two and more lesions. Six patients were associated with the precipitating causes (asphyxia, intracranial bleeding, MAS, Bochodalek's hernia). The endoscopic follow-up study was carried out in six patients. Esophageal ulcer, esophageal erosion, gastric erosion and hemorrhagic gastritis were completely healed 1 week after the first examination. Four of 6 gastric ulcer lesions were changed to scar within 1 week, but in two, the duration of reaching to healing stage was several weeks. Endoscopic examination of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage in infants was useful and accurate diagnostic method.
