Background: There is paucity of data on the effect of interventions on risk of gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) in acute pancreatitis (AP).
Methods: Retrospective study of records of patients with AP and GIB. Results: 16 (3.7%) patients (14 males; mean age 39.3±12.8 years) had gastrointestinal bleeding. Two patients had peptic ulcer disease related GIB. The cause of GIB in remaining patients was: pseudoaneurysms in 5, gastrointestinal fistulization in 4, and no identifiable lesion in 5. Two patients with pseudoaneurysms were treated with angioembolisation whereas 3 needed surgery. The patients with gastrointestinal fistula had complicated course and 3 of these 4 patients died due to sepsis and multi organ failure. Rest 5 patients with no identifiable lesion were managed conservatively and there was no recurrence of GIB. Of the 14 patients with AP related GIB, a previous intervention had been done in 11(79%) patients. Fifty-three patients (12.7%) without GIB died whereas 5 (31.2%) patients with GIB succumbed to the illness (p=0.04).
Conclusions: The majority of our patients of AP with GIB had antecedent history of interventions. The mortality was higher in patients with GIB, which was not due to hemorrhage but to sepsis and related complications.