Acute variceal bleeding and out-of-hours endoscopy: Evaluation of an emergency care setting according to baveno VI guidelines adherence

Background: The extent to which patients with acute variceal bleeding (AVB) receive recommended care is largely unknown. Aim: to evaluate the adherence of the 4 major Baveno VI recommendations [vasoactive agents, prophylactic antibiotic, esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) within 12 hours, endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL)] as a marker of quality of an emergency model. Methods: Retrospective evaluation of AVB admissions to a tertiary centre in which endoscopy was available 24hours-a-day, with a regional out-of-hours service at night (the furthest hospital is 200Km away). Patients were divided in directly admitted or transferred from other centres. Results: 210 AVB patients were included; 101 (48.1%) were directly admitted. The majority of patients were submitted to vasoactive agents (85.7%) and prophylactic antibiotics (79%) before EGD. In 178 patients (84.8%) endoscopy was performed within 12h and EVL was the procedure of choice in 116 (74.8%) (only oesophageal varices). No significant differences were observed between directly admitted and transferred patients in adherence rates. Overall rebleeding rate was 8.6%, in-hospital mortality 11.4% and 6 week mortality 20%. Conclusion: Adherence to quality metrics was high which might have played a vital role for reported outcomes. These results suggest that this model of care, provides accessibility and equity in access to urgent endoscopy. (c) 2021 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the adherence of acute variceal bleeding patients to recommended care and found a high adherence rate which significantly impacted outcomes. The results suggest that this model of care provides accessibility and equity in urgent endoscopy services.