RELATION OF PAIN OF PEPTIC ULCER TO GASTRIC MOTILITY AND ACIDITY

Abstract

The pain of peptic ulcer is usually ascribed to one of two causes: gastric acidity or gastric hunger contractions. Ginsburg, Tumpowsky and Hamburger¹ ascribed the pain of ulcer to the increased gastric tension and correlated the pain with gastric hunger contractions. Carlson² also showed that the pain in ulcer was synchronous with hunger contractions. Reynolds and McClure³ examined patients fluoroscopically, and found no relation between the gastric contractions and the pain in ulcer. Ortmayer's⁴ observations related the pain to gastric acidity. Palmer⁵ studied the subject extensively and reported a definite relation of gastric acidity to pain in gastric and duodenal ulcer. He found that the injection of 0.5 per cent hydrochloric acid into the stomach in patients with active sensitive ulcer usually produced the characteristic pain. He later claimed this as a specific test for ulcer. In a small group of cases Palmer was able