The Effect of Hemostasis Powder® on Treatment of Bleeding from Benign Ulcers of Upper Gastrointestinal Tract; A Pilot Study

BACKGROUND Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is one of the most prevalent internal medical emergencies. Despite using several methods of treatment, effective treatment cannot be achieved in some patients. Hemostasis powder® is a mineral-herbal product. This emulsion was able to coagulate blood in, in vitro studies and also was effective in the treatment of mucosal and cutaneous bleeding in animal studies, without any toxicity. We decided to compare its effect on the treatment of human GI bleeding with the other common method for treatment of GI bleeding "argon plasma coagulation plus epinephrine injection" in a pilot randomized clinical trial. METHODS The patients with GI bleeding who were admitted to the emergency wards of Ghaem and Imam-Reza Hospitals in Mashhad were randomized to treatment with Hemostasis powder® or "argon plasma coagulation plus epinephrine injection" method, with randomized doctors, after complete testimonial sheet. The patients underwent re-endoscopy to evaluate the ulcers 3 days later, and were under observation for 3 months. After achieving the number of patients that was planned (20 patients), all data were entered to SPSS software version 20 and were analyzed with parametric and non-parametric tests. RESULTS The treatment success was 95% in both groups. There was no complication after treatment of GI bleeding in the two groups after 3 months. No rebreeding was reported in Hemostasis powder® group but 10 % was reported in "argon plasma coagulation plus epinephrine injection" group. CONCLUSION It seems that if the successful results occur in the future complimentary studies, Hemostasis powder® can be used as a new, effective, available, and inexpensive measure in the treatment of GI bleeding and also in the GI bleedings that cannot be treated with common available methods.