Your responsibility The recommendations in this guideline represent the view of NICE, arrived at after careful consideration of the evidence available. When exercising their judgement, professionals are expected to take this guideline fully into account, alongside the individual needs, preferences and values of their patients or service users. The application of the recommendations in this guideline are not mandatory and the guideline does not override the responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or their carer or guardian. Local commissioners and/or providers have a responsibility to enable the guideline to be applied when individual health professionals and their patients or service users wish to use it. They should do so in the context of local and national priorities for funding and developing services, and in light of their duties to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, to advance equality of opportunity and to reduce health inequalities. Nothing in this guideline should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.
NICE 2012. All rights reserved. Last updated August 2016
Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Patient-centred care......................................................................................................................................................... 5 Key priorities for implementation ............................................................................................................................... 6 1 Guidance ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8 1.1 Risk assessment ........................................................................................................................................................................ 8 1.2 Resuscitation and initial management ............................................................................................................................. 8 1.3 Timing of endoscopy................................................................................................................................................................ 9 1.4 Management of non-variceal bleeding ............................................................................................................................ 9 1.5 Management of variceal bleeding...................................................................................................................................... 10 1.6 Control of bleeding and prevention of re-bleeding in patients on NSAIDs, aspirin or clopidogrel ......... 11 1.7 Primary prophylaxis for acutely ill patients in critical care...................................................................................... 11 1.8 Information and support for patients and carers ........................................................................................................ 11 More information............................................................................................................................................................................. 12
Introduction 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 oesophagogastric varices. Endoscopy is the primary diagnostic investigation in patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding but it has not always been clear whether urgent endoscopy is cost effective as well as clinically valuable. Endoscopy aids diagnosis, yields information that helps predict outcome and most importantly allows treatments to be delivered that can stop bleeding and reduce the risk of re-bleeding. Drugs may have a complementary role in reducing gastric acid secretion and portal vein pressure. Not every patient responds to endoscopic and drug treatments; emergency surgery and a range of radiological procedures may be needed to control bleeding. 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. The guideline will assume that prescribers will use a drug's summary of product characteristics to inform decisions made with individual patients.
NICE 2012. All rights reserved. Last updated August 2016
Patient-centred care This guideline offers best practice advice on the care of adults and young people aged 16 years and older with acute variceal and non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Treatment and care should take into account patients' needs, preferences and religious beliefs. People with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding should have the opportunity to make informed decisions about their care and treatment, in partnership with their healthcare professionals. If patients do not have the capacity to make decisions, healthcare professionals should follow the Department of Health's advice on consent and the code of practice that accompanies the Mental Capacity Act. In Wales, healthcare professionals should follow advice on consent from the Welsh Government. In taking account of patients' religious beliefs in the context of blood transfusion, healthcare professionals should follow the advice from UK Blood Transfusion and Tissue Transplantation Services. Good communication between healthcare professionals and patients is essential. It should be supported by evidence-based written information tailored to the patient's needs. Treatment and care, and the information patients are given about it, should be culturally appropriate. It should also be accessible to people with additional needs such as physical, sensory or learning disabilities, and to people who do not speak or read English. If the patient agrees, families and carers should have the opportunity to be involved in decisions about treatment and care. Families and carers should also be given the information and support they need.
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The following recommendations have been identified as priorities for implementation. Risk assessment Use the following formal risk assessment scores for all patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding: the Blatchford score at first assessment, and the full Rockall score after endoscopy. Timing of endoscop endoscopyy Offer endoscopy to unstable patients with severe acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding immediately after resuscitation. Offer endoscopy within 24 hours of admission to all other patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Units seeing more than 330 cases a year should offer daily endoscopy lists. Units seeing fewer than 330 cases a year should arrange their service according to local circumstances. Management of non-variceal bleeding Do not use adrenaline as monotherapy for the endoscopic treatment of non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding. For the endoscopic treatment of non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding, use one of the following: a mechanical method (for example, clips) with or without adrenaline thermal coagulation with adrenaline fibrin or thrombin with adrenaline. Offer interventional radiology to unstable patients who re-bleed after endoscopic treatment. Refer urgently for surgery if interventional radiology is not promptly available. Management of variceal bleeding
NICE 2012. All rights reserved. Last updated August 2016
Offer prophylactic antibiotic therapy at presentation to patients with suspected or confirmed
variceal bleeding. Consider transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS) if bleeding from oesophageal varices is not controlled by band ligation. Control of bleeding and pre prevvention of re-bleeding in patients on NSAIDs, aspirin or clopidogrel Continue low-dose aspirin for secondary prevention of vascular events in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding in whom haemostasis has been achieved.
NICE 2012. All rights reserved. Last updated August 2016
The following guidance is based on the best available evidence. The full guideline gives details of the methods and the evidence used to develop the guidance.
1.1
Risk assessment
1.1.1
Use the following formal risk assessment scores for all patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding: the Blatchford score at first assessment, and the full Rockall score after endoscopy.
1.1.2
Consider early discharge for patients with a pre-endoscopy Blatchford
score of 0.
1.2
Resuscitation and initial management
1.2.1
Transfuse patients with massive bleeding with blood, platelets and clotting factors in line with local protocols for managing massive bleeding.
1.2.2
Base decisions on blood transfusion on the full clinical picture, recognising that over-transfusion may be as damaging as under-transfusion.
1.2.3
Do not offer platelet transfusion to patients who are not actively bleeding and are haemodynamically stable.
1.2.4
Offer platelet transfusion to patients who are actively bleeding and have a platelet count of less than 50 x 109/litre. Offer fresh frozen plasma to patients who are actively bleeding and have a prothrombin time (or international normalised ratio) or activated partial thromboplastin time greater than 1.5 times normal. If a patient's fibrinogen level remains less than 1.5 g/litre despite fresh frozen plasma use, offer cryoprecipitate as well.
1.2.5
Offer prothrombin complex concentrate to patients who are taking warfarin
and actively bleeding.
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Treat patients who are taking warfarin and whose upper gastrointestinal bleeding has stopped in line with local warfarin protocols.
1.2.7
Do not use recombinant factor Vlla except when all other methods have failed.
1.3
Timing of endoscopy
1.3.1
Offer endoscopy to unstable patients with severe acute upper gastrointestinal
bleeding immediately after resuscitation.
1.3.2
Offer endoscopy within 24 hours of admission to all other patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
1.3.3
Units seeing more than 330 cases a year should offer daily endoscopy lists. Units seeing fewer than 330 cases a year should arrange their service according to local circumstances.
1.4
Management of non-variceal bleeding
Endoscopic treatment 1.4.1
Do not use adrenaline as monotherapy for the endoscopic treatment of nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
1.4.2
For the endoscopic treatment of non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding,
use one of the following: a mechanical method (for example, clips) with or without adrenaline thermal coagulation with adrenaline fibrin or thrombin with adrenaline.
Proton pump inhibitors
1.4.3
Do not offer acid-suppression drugs (proton pump inhibitors or H2-receptor
antagonists) before endoscopy to patients with suspected non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
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Offer TIPS if bleeding from gastric varices is not controlled by endoscopic
injection of N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate.
Control of bleeding and prevention of re-bleeding in patients on NSAIDs,
aspirin or clopidogrel 1.6
1.6.1
Continue low-dose aspirin for secondary prevention of vascular events in
patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding in whom haemostasis has been achieved.
1.6.2
Stop other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (including cyclooxygenase-2
[COX-2] inhibitors) during the acute phase in patients presenting with upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
1.6.3
Discuss the risks and benefits of continuing clopidogrel (or any other thienopyridine antiplatelet agents) in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding with the appropriate specialist (for example, a cardiologist or a stroke specialist) and with the patient.
1.7
Primary prophylaxis for acutely ill patients in critical care
1.7.1
Offer acid-suppression therapy (H2-receptor antagonists or proton pump
inhibitors) for primary prevention of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in acutely ill patients admitted to critical care. If possible, use the oral form of the drug.[ ] 2
1.7.2
Review the ongoing need for acid-suppression drugs for primary prevention of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in acutely ill patients when they recover or are discharged from critical care.
1.8
Information and support for patients and carers
1.8.1
Establish good communication between clinical staff and patients and their family and carers at the time of presentation, throughout their time in hospital and following discharge. This should include: giving verbal information that is recorded in medical records different members of clinical teams providing consistent information
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ensuring patients and their families and carers receive consistent information.
More information You can also see this guideline in the NICE pathway on Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding. To find out what NICE has said on topics related to this guideline, see our web page on Digestive tract conditions. See also the guideline committee's discussion and the evidence reviews (in the full guideline), and information about how the guideline was developed, including details of the committee.
[1]
At the time of publication (June 2012), terlipressin was indicated for the treatment of bleeding from oesophageal varices, with a maximum duration of treatment of 72 hours (3 days). Prescribers should consult the relevant summary of product characteristics. Informed consent for off-label use of terlipressin should be obtained and documented. [2]
As of August 2016, only the H2-receptor antagonists ranitidine and cimetidine are licensed for prophylaxis of gastrointestinal bleeding in acutely ill patients. The proton pump inhibitors omeprazole, esomeprazole, lansoprazole, pantoprazole and rabeprazole are not licensed for prophylaxis of gastrointestinal bleeding in acutely ill patients. The use of proton pump inhibitors or H2-receptor antagonists other than ranitidine and cimetidine for this indication would be off label.
NICE 2012. All rights reserved. Last updated August 2016
Update information August 2016 2016: A footnote was added to recommendation 1.7.1 about which proton pump inhibitors and H2-receptor antagonists are licensed for use and which are classed as off-label. April 2015 2015: Recommendation 1.2.5 has been amended to add the use of cryoprecipitate as further treatment. ISBN: 978-1-4731-2041-9
Accreditation
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