MECHANISM OF PAIN IN GASTRIC AND DUODENAL ULCERS

Abstract

The voluminous literature on the mechanism of pain in ulcer has been reviewed and discussed in considerable detail in previous articles. It will suffice here to mention only the more noteworthy contributions. Talma¹in 1884 reported the production of severe epigastric distress by the injection of 500 cc. of a solution of hydrochloric acid (1: 750) into the stomachs of two patients, one with a gastric carcinoma and the other, judging from the history, with a benign peptic ulcer. The distress induced was relieved by magnesium oxide. Suyling²confirmed both of these observations in 1888, and he concluded that hyperesthesia for dilute hydrochloric acid is frequently the cause of gastric pain. Bönniger³reported in 1909 that the distress of gastric ulcer could be brought on regularly by the introduction into the empty stomach of from 100 to 200 cc. of a tenth-normal solution of hydrochloric acid. In