No Benefit of Hemostatic Drugs on Acute Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding in Cirrhosis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (AUGIB) is one of the most life-threatening emergency conditions. Hemostatic drugs are often prescribed to control AUGIB in clinical practice but have not been recommended by major guidelines and consensus. The aim of this study was to investigate the therapeutic effect of hemostatic drugs on AUGIB in cirrhosis. METHODS: All cirrhotic patients with AUGIB who were admitted to our hospital from January 2010 to June 2014 were retrospectively included. Patients were divided into hemostatic drugs and no hemostatic drug groups. A 1 : 1 propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was performed by adjusting age, gender, etiology of liver disease, Child-Pugh score, MELD score, hematemesis, red blood cell transfusion, vasoactive drugs, antibiotics, proton pump inhibitors, and endoscopic variceal therapy. Primary outcomes included 5-day rebleeding and in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: Overall, 982 cirrhotic patients with AUGIB were included (870 in hemostatic drugs group and 112 in no hemostatic drug group). In overall analyses, hemostatic drugs group had a significantly higher 5-day rebleeding rate (18.10% versus 5.40%, P = 0.001) than no hemostatic drug group; in-hospital mortality was not significantly different between them (7.10% versus 4.50%, P = 0.293). In PSM analyses, 172 patients were included (86 patients in each group). Hemostatic drugs group still had a significantly higher 5-day rebleeding rate (15.10% versus 5.80%, P = 0.046); in-hospital mortality remained not significantly different (7.00% versus 3.50%, P = 0.304) between them. Statistical results remained in PSM analyses according to the type of hemostatic drugs. CONCLUSIONS: The use of hemostatic drugs did not improve the in-hospital outcomes of cirrhotic patients with AUGIB.