Endoscopic hemostasis for bleeding peptic ulcer using a hemostatic clip orpure ethanol injection

Background/Aims: Endoscopic hemostasis is frequently chosen as the treatmen t of first choice for bleeding peptic ulcers. We retrospectively compared t he hemostatic effects of hemoclips and endoscopic ethanol injection in pati ents with bleeding gastric and duodenal ulcers. Methodology: The subjects were 149 patients with 156 bleeding peptic ulcer lesions who were treated by endoscopic hemostasis, comprising 127 gastric u lcers and 29 duodenal ulcers. Hemoclips were used for 68 lesions (hemoclip group) and ethanol injection was done for 88 lesions (ethanol group). Results: The hemostasis rates were 98.5% for the hemoclip group and 92.0% f or the ethanol group. There was no significant difference in hemostatic eff ect between these two methods. All patients with unsuccessful hemostasis ha d a visible vessel larger than 2.0mm in diameter and/or concomitant disease . Conclusions: The results suggest that these two endoscopic hemostatic metho ds are both highly effective. The presence of a large visible vessel may be predictive of unsuccessful hemostasis.