[Erythromycin improves quality of endoscopy for acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding].

Twenty four patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding undergoing endoscopy were assessed. Thirteen received erythromycin before the examination and 11 did not. The cleansing effect was bad in 2/6, satisfactory in 4/3 and good in 7/2 patients (erythromycin/non erythromycin group respectively). The need for repeat endoscopy was in 3 and 8 patients respectively. In conclusion erythromycin given before endoscopy improves quality of endoscopic examination in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding.