Open AccessEmergency Diagnosis of Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding by Fiberoptic Endoscopy
Author(s) -
Hugo V. Villar,
H. Roberts Fender,
Larry C. Watson,
James C. Thompson
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
annals of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.153
H-Index - 309
eISSN - 1528-1140
pISSN - 0003-4932
DOI - 10.1097/00000658-197703000-00019
Subject(s) - medicine , esophagogastroduodenoscopy , endoscopy , upper gastrointestinal bleeding , gastrointestinal bleeding , surgery , emergency department , melena , emergency surgery , general surgery , psychiatry
Emergency esophagogastroduodenoscopy has been performed in 192 consecutive patients admitted with massive gastrointestinal bleeding. Accurate endoscopic diagnosis was made in 184 or 96%; 58 patients underwent emergency operations to control bleeding with an overall operative mortality of 26%. Excluding 16 patients who underwent emergency portacaval shunting, the operative mortality was 7%. In 6 patients, the bleeding was controlled by endoscopic electrocoagulation. There were no complications. Emergency endoscopy should be done routinely as the primary diagnostic approach in the diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal bleeding.