Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding in over 16s: management – NICE guideline

Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding is a common medical emergency that has a 10% hospital mortality rate. Despite changes in management, mortality has not significantly improved over the past 50 years.

Elderly patients and people with chronic medical diseases withstand acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding less well than younger, fitter patients, and have a higher risk of death. Almost all people who develop acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding are treated in hospital and the guideline therefore focuses on hospital care. The most common causes are peptic ulcer and oesophago-gastric varices.

This guideline aims to identify which diagnostic and therapeutic steps are useful in managing acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding. This should enable hospitals to develop a structure in which clinical teams can deliver an optimum service for people who develop this condition.

You can read the guideline on NICE's website.

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.