Acute nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding remains an important cause of hospital admission with an associated mortality of 2-14%. Initial patient evaluation includes rapid hemodynamic assessment, large-bore intravenous catheter insertion and volume resuscitation. A hemoglobin transfusion threshold of 7 g/dL is recommended, and packed red blood cell transfusion may be necessary to restore intravascular volume and improve tissue perfusion. Patients should be risk stratified into low- and high-risk categories, using validated prognostic scoring systems such as the Glasgow-Blatchford, AIMS65 or Rockall scores. Effective early management of acute, nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage is critical for improving patient outcomes.
Key points
- •
In-hospital mortality ranges from 2% to 14% in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding and is most often related to multiorgan failure or advanced metastatic disease.
- •
Initial rapid evaluation includes a thorough history and assessment of vital signs including orthostatics and blood tests. Effective intravenous access and volume infusion is critical.
- •
Early evaluation and stratification for mortality and rebleeding risk should be performed using validated prognostic scoring systems, such as the Glasgow-Blatchford, AIMS65, or Rockall score.
- •
Blood transfusions should target a restrictive transfusion threshold in most patients, as restrictive strategies have been associated with improved patient outcomes.
Introduction
Acute nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) remains a common and potentially life-threatening medical condition requiring a prompt, accurate assessment and timely medical and endoscopic management. It has a reported annual incidence of 50 to 150 cases per 100,000 adults and results in considerable patient morbidity as well as utilization of hospital resources. Despite improvements in medical therapy with proton pump inhibitors and endoscopic interventions, there is a 2% to 14% mortality rate, with some reports noting up to 27% mortality rates in elderly patients or in those with significant comorbid conditions. The most recent reports have found that current in-hospital mortality in the United States is about 2%. Death among patients admitted with acute nonvariceal UGIB is less often a direct result of the bleeding event. Rather, cardiopulmonary collapse, sepsis, and/or metastatic cancer account for most in-hospital mortality. This finding was demonstrated in a prospective cohort study of patients admitted to a Hong Kong hospital with acute nonvariceal UGIB; of the patients who died, 80% died of non–bleeding-related causes. In addition to appropriate management of the acute bleed, patients with UGIB also require global, supportive management.
The principal components of early management in acute, nonvariceal UGIB include resuscitation, risk stratification, acid suppression, and endoscopy for diagnosis and appropriate intervention. Accurate patient evaluation and assessment of risk is of critical importance, both to improve patient outcomes and minimize health care costs.
Introduction
Acute nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) remains a common and potentially life-threatening medical condition requiring a prompt, accurate assessment and timely medical and endoscopic management. It has a reported annual incidence of 50 to 150 cases per 100,000 adults and results in considerable patient morbidity as well as utilization of hospital resources. Despite improvements in medical therapy with proton pump inhibitors and endoscopic interventions, there is a 2% to 14% mortality rate, with some reports noting up to 27% mortality rates in elderly patients or in those with significant comorbid conditions. The most recent reports have found that current in-hospital mortality in the United States is about 2%. Death among patients admitted with acute nonvariceal UGIB is less often a direct result of the bleeding event. Rather, cardiopulmonary collapse, sepsis, and/or metastatic cancer account for most in-hospital mortality. This finding was demonstrated in a prospective cohort study of patients admitted to a Hong Kong hospital with acute nonvariceal UGIB; of the patients who died, 80% died of non–bleeding-related causes. In addition to appropriate management of the acute bleed, patients with UGIB also require global, supportive management.
The principal components of early management in acute, nonvariceal UGIB include resuscitation, risk stratification, acid suppression, and endoscopy for diagnosis and appropriate intervention. Accurate patient evaluation and assessment of risk is of critical importance, both to improve patient outcomes and minimize health care costs.
Definitions
An acute GI bleeding event should be clearly characterized with respect to the suspected source of bleeding, bleeding rate, and estimated volume of blood loss. UGIB is defined as bleeding proximal to the ligament of Treitz and may manifest as hematemesis or passage of blood from the rectum ( Table 1 ). Hematemesis can contain either fresh blood or clots, consistent with a more acute and active bleed. Specks of dark, granular blood, often described as coffee grounds suggest a less active bleed. Blood from the rectum that originates proximal to the ligament of Treitz may appear as black, tarry-appearing stool with a distinct odor, called melena . Notably, a middle (small bowel) GI bleed or a slow colonic bleed might also manifest as melena. Finally, maroon-colored stool and/or bright red blood per the rectum may be seen in a brisk upper GI hemorrhage.
| Sources of GI Bleeding | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Esophagus | Stomach | Duodenum | Small Intestine a | Right Colon | Left Colon | |
| Hematemesis | X | X | X | — | — | — |
| Coffee-ground emesis | X | X | X | — | — | — |
| Melena | X | X | X | X | X | — |
| Guaiac-positive stool | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| BRBPR | (If severe) | (If severe) | (If severe) | (If severe) | X | X |
The most common cause of nonvariceal UGIB is peptic ulcer disease, which accounts for 31% to 67% of cases. This cause is followed by erosive upper GI disease (7%–31%), including esophagitis (3%–12%), malignancy (2%–8%), and Mallory-Weiss tears (4%–8%). In 2% to 8% of patients, uncommon causes, including hemobilia, angiodysplasia, aortoenteric fistula, Dieulafoy lesion, or gastric antral vascular ectasia, are found.
History and physical examination
A thorough history detailing symptoms and past medical history may provide insight into the cause of the bleeding (see Table 1 ). Symptoms of acute UGIB may include epigastric pain, dyspepsia, lightheadedness, dizziness, and/or syncope. Symptoms such as dizziness or syncope may be the result of anemia or volume depletion. Patients should be asked about a history of prior abdominal pain, bleeding, history of coagulopathy (both inherent and/or related to anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents), nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug/aspirin use, medications associated with pill esophagitis, Helicobacter pylori infection, and smoking status, which is a risk factor for malignancy. The patients’ history may also suggest the source of bleeding if there is evidence of liver disease, alcohol abuse, presence of abdominal aortic aneurysm or a prior aortic graft, or known GI malignancy.
Vital signs are of critical importance in the evaluation of patients with acute upper GI hemorrhage. Patients should be assessed for orthostatic hypotension and the presence of shock. Isolated resting tachycardia is a notable finding, as it is the first sign of volume loss and can be seen with mild to moderate hypovolemia.
Laboratory evaluation
Routine laboratory studies should include a complete blood count (CBC), basic metabolic panel, coagulation panel, liver tests including albumin, type, and screen. Hemoglobin or hematocrit should be checked every 2 to 12 hours, depending on the severity of the bleed (generally every 6 hours initially with acute GI bleeding). In the acute setting, hemoglobin and hematocrit may initially be normal, as both plasma and red blood cells are lost in equal proportions in whole blood. It is only with time and resuscitation that equilibration occurs and these lab values start to fall, revealing the true degree of blood loss. On the CBC, note should be made of both the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and the red blood cell distribution width (RDW), as a low MCV and elevated RDW suggest the presence of iron deficiency anemia and a chronic bleed or an acute-on-chronic GI bleed. In addition, a low platelet count may suggest the presence of portal hypertension.
The blood urea nitrogen (BUN)-to-creatinine ratio can be a helpful clinical tool for suggesting the location of the bleeding source. In an acute UGIB, the BUN increases as a result of blood degradation and subsequent reabsorption in the small intestine; a BUN-to-creatinine ratio greater than 36 has been shown to be 90% sensitive for UGIB.
Fluid Resuscitation
The first step in the management of patients with UGIB is to provide adequate fluid resuscitation. Patients should receive nothing by mouth, and a bolus of crystalloid fluid (normal saline or Lactated Ringer solution) should be rapidly infused to maintain blood pressure and correct hypovolemia while patients are being typed and cross-matched for blood products.
Early and adequate intravenous (IV) access for volume resuscitation is of critical importance, and the practitioner is often faced with a decision about what type of percutaneous IV catheter to use. Most patients should have 2 large-bore (18-gauge or larger) peripheral IV catheters placed. Factors that influence the speed of fluid resuscitation include catheter length and diameter, the use of pressure with infused fluids, and the type and temperature of infusate. Studies have shown that large-bore peripheral IV catheters demonstrate an 18% to 164% increase in flow rate compared with the same gauge catheters used in central veins because of the shorter length of peripheral catheters. Unless the use of a central vein permits the insertion of a catheter larger in diameter and shorter in length than could be placed peripherally, a large-bore peripheral IV catheter may permit more rapid fluid administration. Additionally, it is important to note that piggybacking blood into an existing IV line, rather than infusing blood directly into a separate catheter, can significantly decrease flow rates (340 mL/min vs 20 mL/min). It is important for practitioners to select IV catheters carefully in order to optimize resuscitation in patients with acute UGIB. A comparison of various venous catheters is shown in Table 2 .
| Type and Diameter of Venous Catheter | Maximum Flow Rate |
|---|---|
| 20-gauge | 60 mL/min |
| 18-gauge | 105 mL/min |
| 16-gauge | 220 mL/min |
| Triple lumen catheter | |
| Medial (blue)/proximal (white) lumen (18-gauge) | 26 mL/min |
| Distal (brown) lumen (16-gauge) | 52 mL/min |
| Cordis: 8.5 French (100 mm) | 126 mL/min 333 mL/min under pressure a |
| Intraosseous line | 80 mL/min 150 mL/min under pressure a |
Nasogastric lavage
Nasogastric lavage (NGL) has traditionally been part of the initial assessment of patients with UGIB. However, studies have failed to show a clear benefit of NGL on clinical outcomes; nasogastric tube insertion has been rated the most painful of commonly performed emergency department procedures. Although no large randomized controlled trial of NGL exists, the largest retrospective study of 632 patients admitted with upper GI bleeding found no improvement in 30-day mortality or length of hospital stay, and no significant difference in transfusion requirements or need for surgery after NGL. Although it has been argued that NGL could improve visualization at the time of endoscopy, a multicenter randomized trial demonstrated that IV erythromycin is equivalent to NGL in terms of endoscopic visualization. As a result, current clinical guidelines do not recommend routine NGL in the management of patients with UGIB.
Video Capsule Endoscopy
In an attempt to improve risk stratification and identify moderate- and high-risk patients, recent attention has focused on real-time bedside video capsule endoscopy (VCE) for the rapid identification of patients likely to have stigmata of high-risk bleeding at the time of endoscopy. The feasibility of bedside VCE performed in the emergency department in the triage of acute UGIB has been described. Several studies have reported that rapid VCE accurately predicts those patients most likely to have high-risk endoscopic stigmata of bleeding, with high degrees of sensitivity and specificity. VCE has several advantages: it can be easily and rapidly performed in an emergency triage setting; it does not require sedation; it poses minimal risk to patients; it permits accurate assessment of patients’ need for urgent endoscopy; it does not interfere with subsequent upper endoscopy. Moreover, VCE offers an opportunity to more accurately predict which patients may be at the highest risk of recurrent bleeding, need for endoscopic intervention, or death. However, thus far there are no randomized trials of VCE compared with using validated risk prognostic scores in patients with UGIB. In addition, the cost-effectiveness of this approach has not been formally analyzed, which is important because the cost of VCE is significant.
Risk stratification
The 2010 international consensus and the 2012 guidelines from the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) recommend that patients with acute UGIB undergo endoscopy within 24 hours of presentation unless they are identified as low risk for rebleeding, need for intervention (including blood transfusion, endoscopic intervention or surgery), or death. To determine which low-risk patients may be suitable for safe early discharge and outpatient management, a growing body of literature has focused on the validation of prognostic scoring systems. In addition, these scores can predict which patients are at high risk for poor outcomes. These scores use a combination of clinical, laboratory, and, in some cases, endoscopic parameters to direct appropriate patient intervention and care.
Pre-Endoscopic Risk Scores
The Glasgow Blatchford Risk Score (GBRS), the AIMS65 score, and the clinical Rockall score are among the best-studied pre-endoscopic risk scores. The GBRS was developed to predict the need for hospital-based intervention (blood transfusion, endoscopic therapy, or surgery) among patients with UGIB; this score assigns points to measures of systolic blood pressure, BUN, hemoglobin, and other variables, such as pulse, melena, syncope, hepatic disease, and cardiac failure. Scores range from 0 to 23, with higher scores indicating a higher risk. Patients with a GBRS of 0 have a less than 1% likelihood of requiring endoscopic intervention and, therefore, may safely be discharged before undergoing endoscopy. However, 90% of patients have a GBRS greater than 0 and, therefore, would require inpatient management. A more recent study used a higher GBRS cutoff, and found that a cutoff of 1 or less was 99.2% sensitive and 39.8% for identifying low-risk patients and, if used, would decrease the number of patients admitted for UGIB by half.
The AIMS65 score is an easily calculated bedside score used to predict mortality in patients with acute UGIB. Developed from a retrospective cohort of 29,222 patients admitted to the hospital with acute UGIB, there were 5 admission factors independently associated with increased in-patient mortality. These factors include
- •
Albumin less than 3.0 g/dL
- •
International normalized ratio (INR) greater than 1.5
- •
Altered mental status
- •
Systolic blood pressure of 90 mm Hg or less
- •
Age older than 65 years
The AIMS65 score was validated in a cohort of 32,504 patients and has recently been shown to predict mortality more accurately than the GBRS.
The clinical Rockall score, a modified version of the full Rockall score (see later discussion), is used for pre-endoscopic prognostication. In a retrospective analysis of 341 patients admitted with acute UGIB, a clinical Rockall score greater than 3 was associated with a significantly increased rate of rebleeding and surgery as well as increased overall mortality. However, in studies comparing the clinical Rockall score with the GBRS, the GBRS has been found to be superior for predicting mortality and the need for clinical intervention.
Pre-endoscopic scoring systems are effective for the identification of those lowest-risk patients who may be safe for early discharge and outpatient follow-up. However, they are limited in their ability to accurately distinguish high- from moderate-risk patients. Recent studies have reported that both the GBRS and the clinical Rockall scores are not useful predictors of adverse clinical outcomes in patients outside of the very lowest risk category (ie, GBRS of 0). A summary of the AIMS65, GBRS, and clinical Rockall scores can be found in Table 3 .
| AIMS65 Score | Glasgow-Blatchford Risk Score | Clinical Rockall Score | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Risk Factor | Points | Risk Factor | Points | Risk Factor | Points |
| Albumin <3.0 g/dL | 1 | BUN, mg/dL | SBP <100 mm Hg | 2 | |
| INR >1.5 | 1 | ≥18.2 to <22.4 | 2 | Pulse >100 bpm | 1 |
| Altered mental status | 1 | ≥22.4 to <28.0 | 3 | Age | |
| SBP ≤90 mm Hg | 1 | ≥28.0 to <70.0 | 4 | <60 y | 0 |
| Age >65 y | 1 | ≥70.0 | 6 | 60–79 y | 1 |
| Hemoglobin, men g/dL | >80 y | 2 | |||
| ≥12.0 to <13.0 | 1 | Comorbidities | |||
| ≥10.0 to <12.0 | 3 | None | 0 | ||
| <10.0 | 6 | Any | 2 | ||
| Hemoglobin, women g/dL | Renal or liver failure or advanced malignancy | 3 | |||
| ≥10.0 to <12.0 | 1 | ||||
| <10.0 | 6 | ||||
| SBP, mm Hg | |||||
| 100–109 | 1 | ||||
| 90–99 | 2 | ||||
| <90 | 3 | ||||
| Other parameters | |||||
| Heart rate ≥100 bpm | 1 | ||||
| Melena | 1 | ||||
| Syncope | 2 | ||||
| Liver disease | 2 | ||||
| Heart failure | 2 | ||||
| Maximum score | 5 | Maximum score | 23 | Maximum score | 7 |
Related posts:
Advances and Improvements in the Management of Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding
Epidemiology and Risk Factors for Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding
Endoscopic Diagnosis and Therapy in Gastroesophageal Variceal Bleeding
Injection and Cautery Methods for Nonvariceal Bleeding Control
Unusual Causes of Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding
Tips and Tricks on How to Optimally Manage Patients with Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding
Stay updated, free articles. Join our Telegram channel
Full access? Get Clinical Tree
