• José Manuel Recio-Ramírez, María del Pilar Sánchez-Sánchez, José Antonio Peña-Ojeda, Enrique Fernández-Romero, Manuel Aguilera-Peña, Emilio del-Campo-Molina, and José Luis Zambrana-García.
• Rev Esp Enferm Dig. 2015 May 1; 107 (5): 262-7.

ObjectivesTo assess the ability of the Glasgow Blatchford Score (GBS) system to identify the need for urgent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (UGIE) in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB).MethodsAn observational, retrospective study was carried out in all patients attended at the ER for suspected UGIB in one year. Patients were split into two categories -high-risk (>2) and low-risk ( < or = 2)- by means of the GBS system.ResultsA total of 60 patients were included. Of these, 46 were classified as "high-risk" (> 2) and 14 as "low-risk" ( < or = 2) subjects.The characteristics of patients in the low-risk group included: Mean age: 46.6 +/- 13.7 (18-88) years. Males/females: 7/7. Urgent endoscopy revealed: normal (50%; n = 7); esophagitis (21.4%; n = 3); gastritis (14.2%; n = 2); Mallory-Weiss syndrome (7.1%; n = 1); non-bleeding varices (7.1%; n = 1). The characteristics of patients in the high-risk group included: Mean age: 68.7 +/- 19.8 (31-91) years. Males/females: 30/16. Digestive endoscopy revealed: Gastric/duodenal ulcer (56.52%; n = 26); normal (17.39%; n = 8); esophagitis (8.69%; n = 4); gastritis (8.69%; n = 4); angioectasia (4.34%; n = 2); bleeding varices (4.34%; n = 2). Low-risk patients exhibited no lesions requiring urgent management during endoscopy, and the sensitivity of the GBS scale for high-risk UGIB detection was found to be 100% (95% CI: 86.27%, 99.71%), with a specificity of 48.28% (95% CI: 29.89, 67.1%).ConclusionsThe GBS scale seems to accurately identify patients with low-risk UGIB, who may be managed on an outpatient basis and undergo delayed upper GI endoscopy at the outpatient clinic.

25 keywords...

hide…