Current status of the management of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage at a specialized hospital unit

The prevalence of bleeding of the gastrointestinal tract is around 100/100,000 adults/year. These events need special diagnostic and therapeutic approach, which previously was located mostly to surgical departments. At the beginning of 1996 a specialized ward ("gastrointestinal bleeding unit, GBU") was created at the 2nd Dept. Medicine of the University Medical School of Debrecen. The authors give an account about their experiences with the first 250 cases, try to establish the optimal and necessary conditions and analyse the consequences of their newly developed "risk-score" system. The overall mortality was 9% during this period and surgical intervention proved to be necessary in only 10 cases. On the basis of the collected experiences, they are convinced that the described and elaborated model can well be used for the proper, up-to-date management of gasrointestinal bleeding disorders. As next they suggest an overall, regional organisation of such units, together with the correct determination and provision of the financial background.