Bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract is common, affecting up to 1 in 1000 adults per year. It leads to death in 10% to 30% of cases, depending on whether patients are admitted with bleeding or bleed whilst in hospital with something else. Patients present with vomiting of fresh or partially digested blood, or with the passage of digested blood from the bowel (melaena). They may also present with symptoms associated with low blood pressure (which can occur secondary to rapid haemorrhage), or with symptoms of anaemia. Red blood cells may be transfused to patients to improve the blood pressure, haemoglobin concentration, or both, before the cause of the bleeding is identified and treated, usually with upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Patients may also receive a transfusion after endoscopy to correct the haemoglobin concentration once the haemorrhage has been controlled. It is possible that blood transfusion (which has some serious potential adverse effects) may not always improve the patients' condition and may even make the bleeding worse.
It seems counterintuitive to question the value of red blood cell transfusion in cases of acute haemorrhage, but accepted practice has to be challenged.
This update found no new eligible trials. The original review found three trials investigating the effects of red blood cell transfusion in patients with upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding. There were more deaths recorded in the transfusion arm of the combined studies compared to the control arm. It is by no means clear that transfusion is a surrogate marker for more severe haemorrhage. The deaths were too few and the trials too disparate to draw any firm conclusions regarding the effects of transfusion on mortality. We can only recommend that further, larger studies are done.