Endoscopic Findings in Patients with Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding Referred to Taleghani Hospital, Tehran, Iran

Background: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) remains a common medical problem worldwide. It is an emergency medical condition, which may require hospital admission. UGIB also increases the risk of morbidity, and mortality and uses health care resources. The aim of this study was to determine the endoscopic findings and their frequencies in patients with UGIB with regard to age in Tehran’s Taleghani Hospital. Materials and Methods: The medical records and endoscopy reports of 990 patients, who underwent endoscopy for UGIB in Tehran’s Taleghani Hospital over a period of 2 years from 2010 to 2012, were retrospectively analyzed. Results: A total of 990 patients consisted of 594 (60%) men and 396 (40%) women had endoscopy for UGIB. Mean (±SD) age of the patients was 54 (±17.2) years. The commonest (45.5%) cause of UGIB was peptic ulcer disease, which included; duodenal ulcer (26.4%), gastric ulcer (19.1%), followed by esophageal and gastric varices (19.5%). Malignant conditions (cancers) contributed to 14.7%, which included gastric cancer (7.2%), esophageal cancer (5.5%), and duodenal cancer (2%). Other less frequent causes of UGIB were esophageal ulcer (6.7%), erosive gastritis (6.3%), Mallory-Weiss syndrome (5.4%), and Dieulafoy’s lesion (1.2%). Normal endoscopic findings were recorded in 0.7% of the patients with UGIB. Conclusion: Peptic ulcer diseases are the commonest cause of UGIB followed by esophageal and gastric varices