Normal Saline Injection or Bipolar Electrocoagulation for High-Risk Bleeding Ulcers?

Endoscopic therapy improves clinical outcomes of patients with bleeding peptic ulcers who have endoscopic stigmata at high risk for rebleeding. Endoscopic treatment with injection, thermal, or mechanical means controls bleeding in more than 90% of patients, dramatically reducing rebleeding rates and need for surgery, and improving survival. Complications are uncommon but are reported most often with thermal therapies and sclerosant injections. Normal saline injection has been suggested as an inexpensive, widely available treatment for bleeding ulcers that is associated with negligible risk for perforation or ulceration. To examine the efficacy and safety of normal saline-injection therapy for bleeding peptic ulcers, investigators randomized…