THE GASTRIC MUCOSA IN DELIRIUM TREMENS

Abstract

In the experience of Dr. E. R. Le Count, coroner's physician in Chicago, petechial hemorrhages in the stomach lining are among the most constant lesions found in the bodies of persons dying during the acute delirium of chronic alcoholism. This condition has been considered an acute alcoholic gastritis, but in the absence of any microscopic examination of similar lesions, the nature of these changes was called in question. The present study, therefore, was taken up with the view of determining the microscopic appearance of these hemorrhages, and to see if they actually are a part of an acute inflammation. Kay ser¹ in a report of the gross anatomic changes in the bodies of 120 persons dying with delirium tremens, mentions thirteen instances of hyperemia or ecchymoses in the sixty-nine bodies in which changes in the stomach were noted. An inquiry into the literature for microscopic studies on