Early Selective Angiographic Embolization to Severely Bleeding Peptic Ulcers After Their Initial Endoscopic Hemostasis - a Randomized Controlled Trial

Endoscopic therapy is now the treatment of choice in patients with actively bleeding peptic ulcers and ulcers with non-bleeding visible vessels. Following endoscopic control of bleeding, we showed that the use of a high dose intravenous infusion of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) for 72 hours further reduced rate of recurrent bleeding [Lau NEJM 2000]. Recurrent bleeding still occurs in 8 to 10 percent of patients who receive the above treatment regime. The associated mortality following a rebleed is 4-10 fold higher when compared to those without recurrent bleeding. In a logistic regression model involving 1144 patients after successful endoscopic thermocoagulation to their bleeding peptic ulcers, we demonstrated that several factors independently predicted recurrent bleeding. They included hypotension, hemoglobin <10g/dl, fresh blood in the stomach, ulcer size > 2cm and active bleeding during endoscopy [Wong Gut 2003]. When we applied this model in a cohort of 945 patients who underwent endoscopic control of bleeding to their ulcers and adjunctive use of high dose intravenous PPI, 275 belonged to the high risk group. Of them, rebleeding leading to surgery or death occurred in 46 patients (16.7%)[Chiu DDW 2007]. Endoscopic treatment to bleeding peptic ulcers has its own limit. In an ex vivo bleeding model using canine mesenteric arteries, endoscopic thermocoagulation could only consistently seal arteries up to 2 mm in size [Johnson Gastro 1987]. Trans-arterial angiography allows clinicians to study and characterize bleeding arteries underneath peptic ulcers. In ulcers that erode into major arteries such as the gastro-duodenal artery complex and branches from left gastric artery, angiography complements endoscopic therapy in the form of selective coiling of the bleeding artery. Trans-arterial angiographic coiling can provide definitive control of bleeding from larger arteries i.e. > 2 mm in size. In cohort studies, trans-arterial angiographic coiling has been shown to compare favorably to surgery, and is less invasive in the control of severe bleeding in peptic