Abstract

Abstract Background The incidence of acute gastrointestinal bleed in Malaysia is approximately 72 per 100000, as the incidence in patients who had mechanical ventilation is 2.6%. Coffee ground vomitus is one of the presentations of upper gastrointestinal bleed, and the decision for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in a critically ill patient with such presentation would be a dilemma as endoscopy might lead to several complications such as endotracheal tube dislodgement, transient bacteremia, cardiopulmonary event, and perforation. We studied the clinicopathology of patients who were referred to our unit with coffee ground vomitus in a critically ill condition, as it would help us further in determining the severity and outcome of the patients. Methods This was a retrospective cross-sectional study from 59 patients in the critical unit in Hospital Melaka who were referred to the surgical department for coffee ground vomitus and underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy. The study was conducted from November 2020 till July 2021. Results The median age of the patient was 73 years old and the mean body mass index was 25.6.. The primary diagnosis of patients in the critical care was Acute Coronary Syndrome 18%, Sepsis 17%, and cerebrovascular accidents 10%. The mean systolic blood pressure was 126 and the mean pulse rate was 94. The mean hemoglobin level upon admission was 10.7 and 9.07 upon referral. Other laboratory parameters that were analyzed were urea, INR, platelet, and lactate. 51% had history of taking antiplatelet or anticoagulants. 92% of patients underwent urgent OGDS (within 24 hours of referral), and 30% of them had findings of high-risk ulcers (Forrest 1b, 2a, and 2b) which need urgent intervention. Conclusions The data from the study would be beneficial in providing evidence for further clinical research in our center on identifying the factors that will predict the outcome of OGDS towards the patient either for endoscopic intervention or diagnostic endoscopy only.

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