Abstract:The electronic endoscope named TGS‐50B (TOSHIBA) provides a fine resolvable image (Fig. 6) and flat white balance covering a wide range (Fig. 7). Using this electronic endoscope, the regenerative mucosal patterns in 15 cases with intractable and 30 cases with tractable gastric ulcers (Table 1) were observed at 2‐week intervals until the healed stage or until 12 weeks after the start of H2‐blocker administration.To clarify the difference between intractable and tractable gastric ulcers, the electronic endoscopic images were fed into an image analyzer; SPICCA (AVIONICS). The regenerative mucosal pattern was converted into 20 binary digited particles by the image analyzer (Fig. 4, Color) and quantified by the oval specification (OSF) value (Fig. 5).The OSF value of the tractable ulcers significantly increased in the healing stage I (H1) and healing stage 2 (H2), in comparison with those of intractable ulcers (Fig. 8). Moreover, the OSF value of the tractable ulcer significantly increased at 4 weeks after the start of an H2‐blocker, comparing with that at 2 weeks. Consequently, the OSF values of the tractable ulcers were significantly high in comparison with those of the intractable ulcers, at 4, 6 and 8 weeks after the start of administration of H2‐blockers (Fig. 9).By histological study of the biopsy specimen, an increase in the OSF value suggested an extension of the regenerative mucosa by a well progressed annular contraction of the gastric wall.In conclusion, it is thought that intractability of gastric ulcers may be objectively predictable in its early healing stages by determination of the OSF value using the electronic endoscope and the image