Management of Patient with Simultaneous Overt Gastrointestinal Bleeding and Myocardial Infarction with ST-Segment Elevation – Priority Endoscopy

BACKGROUND: The current ERC guidelines are the source of many positive changes, reduction of mortality, length of hospitalization and improvement of prognosis of STEMI patients. However, there is a small group of patients whose slight modification in guidelines would further reduce in-hospital mortality and hospitalization costs. These are patients with concomitant STEMI infarction and gastrointestinal bleeding. METHODS: Two separate methods of treatment were compared in patients with concomitant gastrointestinal bleeding and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. The first – traditional approach, in the line with the ESC guidelines, the second innovative, with priority for endoscopy. RESULTS: Despite the innovative approach, the patient with endoscopy before PCI was discharged without complication. A patient who has undergone coronary intervention and who has been started on typical antiplatelet therapy prior to gastroenterological diagnosis has died due to massive bleeding. CONCLUSION: For ethical reasons and in connection with the cardiological guidelines of the management of ACS, a study of patients with ASC a high risk of intestinal bleeding, in which endoscopy will have priority, and only later PCI, will probably never be performed. Although, as the described case shows, despite exceeding the 90 minutes time to implement PCI (<120 minutes) in logistic terms such behavior is completely feasible.