Aims:
The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of the time interval to perform endoscopy (endoscopy timing) on mortality rate, re-bleeding rate, need for surgery, need for blood transfusions and duration of hospitalization in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) due to peptic ulcers.
Methods:
It is a retrospective study performed in a tertiary medical service with permanent access to a endoscopy unit, over a period of 18 months (January 2015 – June 2016). In the present study we included 431 patients with peptic ulcer bleeding. Endoscopy was performed within the first 24 hours for all patients. Based on endoscopy timing the patients were divided into 2 groups: urgent endoscopy (UE) (within 3 hours) and early endoscopy (EE) (3 – 24 hours).
Results:
In the studied group of 431 patients, 209 of them had UE (48.5%), while 222 had EE (51.5%). The mean age was 63.1 years (min 18 years, max 94 years), with a predominance of male patients (69.1%).
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In-hospital mortality was 7.9%, it was 9.6% in patients with UE compared with 6.3% in patients with EE (p = 0.281).
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Re-bleeding occurred in 11.1% of the patients, with no significant difference between UE (12%) and EE (10.4%) (p = 0.708).
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Surgery was needed in 4.2% of the patients, with a higher rate in patients with UE than patients with EE (5.3% vs. 3.2%) (p = 0.393).
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The average need of blood transfusions was higher in UE group compared to EE group (1.99 vs. 1.70 blood units), without statistical significance (p = 0.207).
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Regarding the duration of hospitalisation, there was no significant difference between UE (8.07 days) and EE (7.92days) (p = 0.807).
Conclusions:
In the present study no significant differences were observed between UE and EE regarding in-hospital mortality rate, re-bleeding, need for surgery, need for blood transfusion and duration of hospitalization in patients with UGIB.
