Systematic Review and Net-Work Meta-Analysis of Upper Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage Interventions.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage (UGH) is a serious medical condition which affects a large number of individuals. Endoscopic therapy accompanied by medication is a standard approach that is used to improve the prognosis of UGH patients and a few medications have been developed including proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), histamine H2 receptor antagonist (H2RA), somatostatin analogues and tranexamic acid. This study is set to compare the efficacy and safety of various medical interventions that are used to manage upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

METHODS: We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase for relevant articles. Eligible studies were determined by using both the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Both traditional pair-wise meta-analysis and net-work analysis were carried out to evaluate the corresponding interventions.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: PPI is an effective medication for UGH patients and intravenous PPI exhibits equivalent effectiveness and safety in comparison to oral PPI. H2RA is not recommended for UGH patients as patients treated with H2RA are associated with an increased risk of adverse events including rebleeding, need for surgery and all-cause mortality. Moreover, patients treated with H2RA exhibit an increased length of average hospital stay and blood transfusion amount compared to those treated with PPI. Tranexamic acid is also considered as another promising medication for UGH.