Predictive clinical factors of visible vessel in bleeding peptic ulcer.

The endoscopic finding of a visible vessel in the base of a bleeding gastrointestinal lesion is a well-known indicator of the possibility of recurrent hemorrhage. We carried out a multivariate analysis of 277 patients with gastrointestinal hemorrhage, but no chronic liver disease, of the clinical history and parameters in relation to hemorrhage, in order to select patients at risk for this endoscopic picture. A clinical history of associated disease, the absence of ulcerogenic drug intake, presentation of bleeding in the form of hematemesis and active hemorrhage on admission had predictive value for visible vessel, The incidence of visible vessel was significantly greater in anastomotic stoma ulcers than in gastric and duodenal sulcers. On the basis of the clinical parameters mentioned, patients with a high probability of having a bleeding lesion with a visible vessel can be selected for priority endoscopy.