Analysis of Etiological and Gastroscopic Data of Patients with Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Abstract

Objective: Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding is a life-threatening emergency situation. Gastroscopy has an important place in the diagnosis and treatment.
This study aimed to examine the etiological, clinical, and gastroscopic data of patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Materials and Methods: The outcomes of patients who underwent gastroscopy for upper gastrointestinal bleeding in the endoscopy unit between January 2016
and December 2021 were retrospectively reviewed.

Results: Of the 511 patients evaluated, 341 (66.7%) were male, 170 (33.3%) were female, and the mean age of the patients was 60.2 ± 19.05 years (range 16-88)
years. The most common cause of the bleeding was peptic ulcer (51.2%), and its location was the duodenum (70.7%). The second most common cause was
esophageal variceal bleeding (23%). Band ligation was applied to 99 (82%) of 122 patients with bleeding esophageal varices at the same session or at a later
session, and sclerotherapy was applied to 120 (46%) of 262 patients with bleeding peptic ulcers at the same session. Fifteen patients (2.9%) underwent surgery
due to severe bleeding and hemodynamic instability. Intravenous iron therapy was administered to 101 patients (20%). Mortality occurred in 67 of 511 patients
(13.1%), including 29 of 122 patients (24%) with varicose veins and 38 of 391 patients (10%) with non-variceal bleeding during hospitalization.

Conclusion: It was found that the mortality rate during hospitalization in the gastroenterology unit was 13% overall for patients hospitalized for upper gastrointestinal bleeding, one-fourth for patients hospitalized for variceal bleeding, and one-tenth for patients hospitalized for non-variceal bleeding. These data reveal
that upper gastrointestinal bleeding, especially variceal bleeding, is a clinical condition with high mortality that requires urgent intensive care admission and
rapid intervention.

Cite this article as: Dumak T, Ağan FZ, Cindoğlu Ç, Uyanıkoğlu A. Analysis of etiological and gastroscopic data of patients with upper
gastrointestinal bleeding. Diagn Interv Endosc. 2025; 4(1), 0132. DOI:10.5152/DiagnIntervEndosc.2025.24132.