Endoscopic findings in patients with suspected upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage in Terengganu, Malaysia

Abstract

From January 1994 to December 1995, 147 patients with a clinical diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage underwent oesophago gastro duodenoscopy in Hospital Kuala Trengganu. Our study retrospectively surveys the demographic characteristics and the endoscopic findings in this group of patients. There were more male patients in this group, with only 36.7% being females. Ethnically, most patients were Malays (85%) with the rest being made up of Chinese (12.9%) and Indians (2.1%). The mean age was 55 years (range 6-90 years). Other local studies have found duodenal ulcer to be commonest cause of bleeding, but in our survey, oesophageal varices (21.8%) and gastric ulcers (21.8%) were the most frequent findings, with duodenal ulcers (20.4%) coming in third. The relatively high proportion of patients with oesophageal varices is unexpected and all 32 patients found to have this condition happened to be Malays. A small proportion of patients (6.8%) had more than one abnormality. This study, carried out on a predominantly Malay group of patients on the East Coast of Malaysia, clearly shows some variations as compared to surveys done elsewhere.