Spontaneous epistaxis; theoretical consideration of etiologic factors and treatment.

In a study of data on 136 hemorrhages in 14 patients with posterior epistaxis it was noted that the incidence of bleeding was higher at some hours of the day than at others. The times of highest incidence were more or less inverse to hours of peak systolic blood pressure in normal subjects, suggesting that bleeding occurs as a result of dislodgement of an embolus at times of vasodilation. If that is true, then it should be possible to control bleeding by giving vasoconstrictive drugs. There are not as yet enough data on trial of that method to warrant conclusions.