Upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding management: Belgian guidelines for adults and children.

UNLABELLED Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) remains a common disease affecting 100 to 170 per 100 000 adults per year and causing thereby a significant burden to healthcare resources. Despite the improvements in the management of this disorder, the associated mortality ranges from 5 to 14%. Since the general management of UGIB is not uniform, the main objective of this work is to provide guidelines for the care of adults and children presenting with bleeding caused by gastro-duodenal ulcer or variceal rupture. METHODS In the absence of evidence-based recommendations, these guidelines were proposed after expert opinions reconciliation and graded accordingly. They are based on the published literature up to September 2010 and graded according to the class of evidence. RESULTS The current guidelines for the management of UGIB include recommendations for the diagnostic process, general supportive care, pharmacological therapy aiming at bleeding control, specific and endoscopic treatment of acute bleeding and follow-up for both gastro-duodenal ulcers and portal hypertension-induced bleeding.