Endoscopic treatment for high-risk bleeding peptic ulcers: A randomized, controlled trial of epinephrine alone with epinephrine plus fresh frozen plasma.

BACKGROUND: Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding is a common and potentially life-threatening emergency with substantial mortality. Fresh frozen plasma (FFP), a good source of coagulation factors, might be an ideal injection agent based on its physiologic properties. Therefore, we evaluated the role of FFP as a hemostatic agent in patients with high-risk bleeding peptic ulcers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: From August 2015 to April 2016, 108 consecutive patients with high-risk bleeding ulcers were admitted to our university hospital. They were randomly assigned to undergo injection of epinephrine alone (A) or epinephrine plus FFP (B). The primary outcomes assessed were the initial hemostasis, recurrent bleeding, hospital stay, blood transfusion, surgery rate, and 14-day mortality.

RESULTS: Initial hemostasis was achieved in 47 of 50 patients (94%) in the Group A and 49 of 50 patients (98%) in the Group B ( P = 0.61). There were no significant differences in the rate of recurrent bleeding between Group A (14%) and Group B (8%) ( P = 0.52). We found no significant differences between Group A and Group B with respect to the surgery rate, bleeding death, procedure-related death, and duration of hospitalization ( P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION: It is concluded the injection of epinephrine alone was equally effective as injection of epinephrine plus FFP to endoscopic hemostasis. Epinephrine alone and epinephrine plus FFP were not different in recurrent bleeding, rate of surgery, blood transfusion, or mortality.