Abstract
W14859 (liquid thrombin) was used to treat upper gastro-intestinal haemorrhage confirmed by endoscopy. Haemostatic effects were compared with those of topical thrombin. W14859 was administered directly under endoscopy and/or orally in 29 patients with upper gastro-intestinal haemorrhage. Haemostasis was achieved using direct application and subsequent oral thrombin in 17/19 (89.5%) cases, and direct or oral treatment alone in 4/6 (66.7%) cases. The efficacy rate was higher in non-transfused patients. In all 25 stomach biopsy patients, haemostasis was achieved within 60 s of directly applying W14859. There was no significant difference between the mean time taken by W14859 (17.7 ± 2.1 s) and topical thrombin (14.6 ± 2.0 s) and no adverse events were observed in any of the patients. It is, therefore, believed that W14859 can be routinely used in clinical practice.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.