INTRODUCTION: The bleeding source of hematochezia is unknown without performing colonoscopy. We sought to identify whether colonoscopy is a risk-stratifying tool to identify etiology and predict outcomes and whether presenting symptoms can differentiate the etiologies in patients with hematochezia. METHODS: This multicenter retrospective cohort study conducted at 49 hospitals across Japan analyzed 10,342 patients admitted for outpatient-onset acute hematochezia. RESULTS: Patients were mostly elderly population, and 29.5% had hemodynamic instability. Computed tomography was performed in 69.1% and colonoscopy in 87.7%. Diagnostic yield of colonoscopy reached 94.9%, most frequently diverticular bleeding. Thirty-day rebleeding rates were significantly higher with diverticulosis and small bowel bleeding than with other etiologies. In-hospital mortality was significantly higher with angioectasia, malignancy, rectal ulcer, and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Colonoscopic treatment rates were significantly higher with diverticulosis, radiation colitis, angioectasia, rectal ulcer, and postendoscopy bleeding. More interventional radiology procedures were needed for diverticulosis and small bowel bleeding. Etiologies with favorable outcomes and low procedure rates were ischemic colitis and infectious colitis. Higher rates of painless hematochezia at presentation were significantly associated with multiple diseases, such as rectal ulcer, hemorrhoids, angioectasia, radiation colitis, and diverticulosis. The same was true in cases of hematochezia with diarrhea, fever, and hemodynamic instability. DISCUSSION: This nationwide data set of acute hematochezia highlights the importance of colonoscopy in accurately detecting bleeding etiologies that stratify patients at high or low risk of adverse outcomes and those who will likely require more procedures. Predicting different bleeding etiologies based on initial presentation would be challenging.

AIM:To classify changes over time in causes of lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGIB) and to identify factors associated with changes in the incidence and characteristics of diverticular hemorrhage (DH). METHODS:A total of 1803 patients underwent colonoscopy for overt LGIB at our hospital from 1995 to 2013. Patients were divided into an early group (EG, 1995(EG, -2006 n = 828) and a late group (LG, 2007(LG, -2013 Author contributions: Kinjo K collected and analyzed the data, and drafted the manuscript; Matsui T designed and supervised the study; Washio M performed the statistical analysisl; Hisabe T, Ishihara H, Maki S, Chuman K, Koga A, Ohtsu K, Takatsu N, Hirai F and Yao K performed the colonoscopy and revised the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors have read and approved the final version to be published.Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the institutional review board of Fukuoka University Chikushi Hospital (R15-024) and was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.Informed consent statement: In this study, We do not necessarily need the individual agreement from a study subject. Because this study is retrospective study and based on the ethical guidelines for medical studies intended for people "taken from the human body undergoes No. 12 informed consent procedures was used samples not research". Information about the implementation of this research exposes to Fukuoka University Chikushi Hospital clinical research support Center home page. Conflict-of-interest statement:In connection with this manuscript, there is no Conflict of Interest to be disclosed with any companies.Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at matsui@ fukuoka-u.ac.jp. Participants gave informed consent was not obtained but the presented data are anonymized and risk of identification is low. Retrospective Studybetween patients with and without DH. RESULTS:Older patients (≥ 70 years old) and those with colonic DH were more frequent in LG than in EG (P < 0.01). Patients using ATDs as well as NSAIDs, male sex, obesity (body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m 2 ), smoking, alcohol drinking, and arteriosclerotic diseases were more frequent in patients with DH than in those without. CONCLUSION:Incidence of colonic DH seems to increase with aging of the population, and factors involved include use of ATDs and NSAIDs, male sex, obesity, smoking, alcohol drinking, and arteriosclerotic disease. These factors are of value in handling DH patients. Core tip: Colonic diverticular hemorrhage (DH) is the most frequent cause of lower gastrointestinal bleeding. A rapid increase in the incidence of colonic DH has been seen with the aging population. One reason is the widespread adoption of antithrombotic drugs (ATDs) since the early 2000s, based on guidelines to prevent ischemic heart disease and ischemic cerebrovascular disease. DH is more likely in patients who are older, are men, obesity, use nonsteroidal anti-inf...

BackgroundThe value of endoscopy for acute lower GI bleeding (ALGIB) remains unclear, given few large cohort studies. We aim to provide detailed clinical data for ALGIB management and to identify patients at risk for adverse outcomes based on endoscopic diagnosis.MethodsWe conducted a multicenter, retrospective cohort study, named CODE BLUE J-Study, in 49 hospitals throughout Japan and studied 10,342 cases admitted for outpatient-onset of acute hematochezia.ResultsCases were mostly elderly, with 29.5% hemodynamic instability and 60.1% comorbidity. 69.1% and 87.7 % of cases underwent CT and colonoscopy, respectively. Diagnostic yield of colonoscopy reached 94.9%, revealing 48 etiologies, most frequently diverticular bleeding. During hospitalization, the endoscopic therapy rate was 32.7%, mostly using clipping and band ligation. IVR and surgery were infrequently performed, for 2.1% and 1.4%. In-hospital rebleeding and death occurred in 15.2% and 0.9%. Diverticular bleeding cases had higher rates of hemodynamic instability, rebleeding, endoscopic therapy, IVR, and transfusion, but lower rates of death and surgery than other etiologies. Small bowel bleeding cases had significantly higher rates of surgery, IVR, and transfusion than other etiologies. Malignancy or upper GIB cases had significantly higher rates of thromboembolism and death than other etiologies. Etiologies that have favorable outcomes were ischemic colitis, infectious colitis, and post-endoscopy bleeding.ConclusionsLarge-scale data of patients with acute hematochezia revealed high proportions of colonoscopy and CT, resulting in high endoscopic therapy rates. We highlight the importance of colonoscopy in detecting accurate bleeding etiologies that stratify patients at high or low risk of adverse outcomes.

Background and study aims: Prior studies have shown the effectiveness of endoscopic band ligation (EBL) and clipping for colonic diverticular hemorrhage (CDH) but have been small and conducted at single centers. Thus, we investigated which was the more effective and safe treatment in a multicenter long-term cohort study. Patients and methods: We reviewed data for 1,679 patients with CDH who were treated with EBL (n=638) or clipping (n=1,041) between January 2010 and December 2019 at 49 hospitals across Japan (CODE BLUE-J Study). Logistic regression analysis was used to compare outcomes between the two treatments. Results: In multivariate analysis, EBL compared with clipping was independently associated with reduced risk of early rebleeding (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.46; p<0.001) and late rebleeding (AOR 0.62; p<0.001). These significantly lower rebleeding rates with EBL were evident regardless of active bleeding or early colonoscopy. No significant difference was found between the treatments in the rate of initial hemostasis or mortality. EBL compared with clipping independently reduced the risk of need for interventional radiology (IVR) (AOR 0.37; p=0.006) and prolonged length of hospital stay (LOS) (AOR 0.35; p<0.001), but not need for surgery. Diverticulitis developed in 1 patient (0.16%) following EBL and 2 patients (0.19%) following clipping. Perforation occurred in 2 patients (0.31%) following EBL and none following clipping. Conclusions: Analysis of our large endoscopy dataset suggests that EBL is an effective and safe endoscopic therapy for CDH offering the advantages of lower early and late rebleeding rates, reduced need for IVR, and shorter LOS.

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