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The results of treatment of eight cases of ulcerative colitis and five cases of Crohn disease experienced in our department were investigated. Five of the eight cases of ulcerative colitis achieved remission by conservative treatment alone, and the mean proportion of relapse into the active stage of the lesion, reckoned in months after discharge was 32%. As for surgical cases, total colorectectomy-ileostomy, subtotal colectomy-anastomosis of the ascending colon and rectum and the Kock method were respectively performed in each case. On the other hand, two of the five cases of Crohn disease showed postoperative relapse. In one case presenting relapse in the duodenum and pyloristenosis, gastrectomy (the Billroth II method) was performed and another case achieved remission using Salazopyrin. Many cases of ulcerative colitis are benign and are found in juveniles, necessitating the positive consideration of the conservative method of spontaneous anus. With regard to the surgery for Crohn disease, the cause of relapse is unknown, and there have also been cases of relapse reported from microlesions so small that they are impossible to diagnose during surgery. It may therefore be necessary to deal cautiously with excision of a skip lesion in which there is no complication or en bloc excision of each lymph node.

In the past 15 years, 101 cases of peptic ulcer in patients over 60 years of age were treated in our department. Of 101 patients, 76 had gastric ulcer, 16 had duodenal ulcer and 9 had combined gastric and duodenal ulcer. The number of peptic ulcers treated surgically has been decreasing recently, while the percentage of peptic ulcers in the aged has been increasing. Of these 101 cases, 52.4% of the patients had no past history of ulcer, and 49.3% had suffered from the disease for less than six months. In regard to symptoms, 71.3% of patients complained of abdominal pain, and 36.6% showed gastrointestinal hemorrhage. The indications for laparotomy were hemorrhage, perforation and stenosis in 48.6% and intractability in 47.2%. The rate of preoperative complications and the rate of emergency operations tended to increase with age. Although there was a complete absence of mortality in the patients without preoperative complications, that among patients with preoperative complications in emergency operations was a high 46.2%. How to avoid emergency operations in the aged remains a problem to be solved in the future.

A retrospective study of patients with peptic ulcer admitted to the First Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Kobe University, was made into the actual conditions of the surgical treatment of the ulcer after the introduction of cimetidine. The patients were divided into two groups, the first belonging to the period between 1976 and 1980 and the second belonging to that between 1981 and 1985 (July). A remarkable decrease was seen in the second group in the number of cases and operations. Especially noticeable was a decline in the number and rate due to intractability among such cases. But an increase was noted in the number of operations for complications of the ulcer (hemorrhage, perforation). There was a higher rate of complications in the second group in comparison with the first. There was no difference in the rate of occurrence of ulcers or shock. In cases of serious hemorrhage with duplicated complications, a barrier was observed in the efficacy of cimetidine, and the rate of cases requiring urgent surgery was still as high as 42.1%.