Endoscopic diagnosis and treatment of upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Considerable progress has been made in endoscopic hemostasis. Several methods are available. Sclerotherapy of esophageal varices is the procedure of choice for the control of active variceal hemorrhage and for the prevention of recurrent bleeding. For endoscopic treatment of nonvariceal gastrointestinal bleeding, the nonerosive contact probes (heater probes and BICAP) and injection sclerotherapy are preferred. Several hemostatic modalities should be available and applied depending on the anatomic location and type of bleeding lesions. Advanced endoscopic hemostatic techniques seem to be decreasing the mortality rates in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding.