AIM:To assess if certain triaging rules could be estab lished to optimize the yield of mesenteric angiography.
METHODS:Medical records of 101 patients were ret rospectively reviewed and parameters relating to age, gender, pulse rate, blood pressure, serum hemoglobin, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and the number of packed red blood cells (PRBC) transfused in the 12 and 24 h prior to the angiography were tabulated in two groups with positive and negative angiography results.
RESULTS:We found no correlation between gender, pulse rate, blood pressure or serum hemoglobin and positivity of the mesenteric angiogram. But patients with positive angiogram were found to be on average 7 years older (73.2 years vs 65.9 years old) (P = 0.02).Angiogram was positive in 39.3 % (11/28) of patients admitted in ICU vs 23.2% (17/73) who were admitted elsewhere in the hospital (P = 0.03). In the 12 and 24 h prior to angiography, patients with a positive angio gram received a mean of 2.7 ± 2.3 and 3.3 ± 2.6 units of PRBC s respectively, while patients with a negative angiogram had a mean of 1.6 ± 1.9 (P = 0.02) and 2.1 ± 2.6 units (P = 0.04) received respectively in the same period.
CONCLUSION:Older age, ICU admission, having re ceived at least 4 units PRBC over 12 h or 5 units over 24 h prior to angiogram are leading indicators for a positive study.© 2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.Key words: Angiography; Diagnostic use; Colon; Blood supply; Radiograph; Gastrointestinal hemorrhage; Emer gencies; Mesenteric arteries Core tip: Mesenteric angiography is associated with a low yield of about 30%. We evaluated several factors in 101 patients undergoing mesenteric angiography in a tertiary care institution to see if any could be used for predicting a positive angiogram. We found that vital signs are poor discriminators but older age, intensive care unit admission, having received at least 4 units PRBC over 12 h or 5 units over 24 h prior to angiogram are leading indicators for a positive study. We postulate that the reason is that patients are given enough blood units to compensate for blood loss and stabilize vital signs and therefore the number of blood units given indirectly correlate with severity of active bleeding.Rasuli P, Doumit J, Boulos M, Rizk C, Doumit G. Factors influencing the yield of mesenteric angiography in lower gastrointestinal bleed. World J Radiol 2014; 6(5): 218-222 Available from: