Diagnostic and Treatment Tactics for Bleeding from Upper Part of Gastrointestinal Tract

Abstract

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) is a rather frequent and highly morbid type of gastrointestinal bleeding. It can be precisely defined as the intraluminal bleeding from intestinal origin to the ligament of Treitz. It is more common in men than women in West- ern countries. The causes of UGIB may include peptic ulcer disease (PUD), gastric arte- riovenous malformation, Mallory Weiss tears, aortoenteric fistula, Malignancies (SCC). UGIB accounts for 75% of all gastrointestinal bleeding cases and requires a great deal of careful diagnostic as well as treatment strategies. After clinical presentation, initial diagnostic procedures like complete blood count, liver function tests and international normalized ratio must be rapidly done. Risk of rebleeding should be assessed by using scoring systems such as Rockall and Blatchford scoring. After that, patients are recom- mended to undergo some procedures like endoscopy, multidetector computed tomography angiography, radionuclide scintigraphy and catheter arteriography. Treatment strategies for UGIB may include pre-endoscopy, endoscopy and post-endoscopy management. The diagnosis as well as treatment strategies are greatly dependent upon professional ex- pertise with highly integrated interventional radiology, internal medicine, emergency medicine, gastroenterology and general surgery. Herein this study we report, the diagnosis as well as treatment strategies are greatly dependent upon professional expertise with highly integrated interventional radiology, internal medicine, emergency medicine, gastroenterology and general surgery his review article is aimed at concise overview of diagnostic procedures as well as treatment strategies which may help the physicians and clinical practitioners to effectively manage UGIB patients.