[Recent progress in the drug therapy for gastrointestinal bleeding]

Abstract

Progress in drug therapy, endoscopic hemostasis and interventional radiology reduced the number of surgical operation for gastrointestinal bleeding. In the upper gastrointestinal bleeding, histamine H2-blockers reduced the number of operation. Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) were as effective as H2-blockers, or more effective than H2-blockers. Intragastric pH was raised to over 6 and was maintained in high level with the therapies using intravenous PPI injection. Oral administration of PPI also raised gastric pH to over 6 on the next day of the treatment, and then succeeded to treat bleeding. More effective and reliable therapies using PPIs are needed for rapid raising of intragastric pH and maintaining it in high level to treat upper gastrointestinal bleeding.