Characteristics of patients with bleeding peptic ulcer requiring emergency endoscopy and aggressive treatment.

OBJECTIVES

Patients with an ulcer and active bleeding or a nonbleeding, visible vessel are high-risk for further bleeding and should receive aggressive therapy. In this study, we tried to identify clinical parameters that predict these high-risk groups.

METHODS

Over a 7-month period, 16 clinical parameters were analyzed prospectively in 316 patients with bleeding peptic ulcer. A multivariate analysis was used to find the independent predictors for the high-risk patients.

RESULTS

A total of 114 patients (36%) was found to have a spurting hemorrhage (eight patients), oozing hemorrhage (27 patients), or a nonbleeding visible vessel (79 patients). Using an univariate analysis, a statistically significant predictor was the appearance of coffee ground fluid or blood from the nasogastric tube. This predictor also emerged as an independent factor (odds ratio, 0.4333; 95% confidence interval, 0.263-0.714).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with bleeding peptic ulcer who have coffee ground fluid or blood from the nasogastric tube should receive an emergency endoscopy and aggressive treatment.