Which is better for upper gastrointestinal bleeding resulted from portal hypertension, elective or emergency operation?

Objective: To evaluate the clinical outcome of emergency and elective operation of splenectomy with periesophagogastric devascularization in treating upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage resulted from portal hypertension.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 219 patients of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage resulted from portal hypertension treated using emergency or elective operation between Jul 2002 and Aug 2010. The clinical data were collected and analyzed.

Results: In the group of elective operation, four patients with grade B and three with grade C died, and in the group of emergency operation, two patients with Grade B and four with Grade C died. The Grade C patients treated using emergency operation presented with a higher mortality than those treated using elective operation, but no significant difference was found (p > 0.05). In the two groups, no patients with Grade A died. 17 cases (11.1%) suffered from complications in the group of elective operation and 11 cases (16.7 %) in emergency operation (p > 0.05). The complication rate in patients with Grade C is significantly higher than that in patients with Grade A or B in each group (p < 0.05). The hospital stay and cost in group of elective operation are significantly higher than those in group of emergency operation (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The patients with Grade A or B treated using emergency operation have similar clinical outcomes as those treated using elective operation, but emergency operation may result in higher rate of death and complication in patients with Grade C.