Eastern vs. Western Therapy for Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Given that endoscopic practices vary among regions of the world, endoscopists are likely influenced in their choices of therapy as much by local training and personal experience as by data from published literature and guidelines. To study regional differences in endoscopic therapy, investigators surveyed endoscopists in the “West” (U.S. and Canada) and the “East” (eight Asian countries).

A total of 4813 electronic surveys were sent, 4734 to members of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (4405 in the U.S. and Canada and 329 in Asia) and 79 to members of the Korean Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. The survey presented five clinical scenarios involving acute nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding and asked the endosc…