title: Continuous intravenous vasopressin in active upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
abstract: Sixty patients with active upper gastrointestinal bleeding were randomized to received either continuous intravenous infusions of vasopressin (29 patients) or placebo (31 patients) at a rate of 40 U/h. Six hours after beginning the study, 13 patients in the vasopressin group and 11 in the placebo group] had ceased bleeding (p = 0.46). By 24 hours. 17 patients in the vasopressin group and 14 in the placebo group had stopped bleeding (p = 0.30). Restriction of the analysis to patients bleeding from varices showed no advantage with vasopressin treatment after 6 or 24 hours. No consistent trend favoring use of vasopressin to stop hemorrhage was noted during the 30-month study period. There was little difference between the two groups in the number of patients needing surgery (13 on vasopressin, 18 on placebo; p = 0.30) or the number of deaths (eight on vasopressin, 11 on placebo; p = 0.51); the transfusion requirement was the same. In our patients, a continuous intravenous infusion of vasopressin neither controlled bleeding nor altered outcome.
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007263:Infusions, Parenteral; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010919:Placebos; D011897:Random Allocation; D014667:Vasopressins / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D010919:Placebos; D014667:Vasopressins