Copyright
©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 28, 2015; 21(20): 6246-6251
Published online May 28, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i20.6246
Published online May 28, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i20.6246
Laboratory test variables useful for distinguishing upper from lower gastrointestinal bleeding
Minoru Tomizawa, Department of Gastroenterology, National Hospital Organization Shimoshizu Hospital, Chiba 284-0003, Japan
Fuminobu Shinozaki, Department of Radiology, National Hospital Organization Shimoshizu Hospital, Chiba 284-0003, Japan
Rumiko Hasegawa, Yoshinori Shirai, Department of Surgery, National Hospital Organization Shimoshizu Hospital, Chiba 284-0003, Japan
Yasufumi Motoyoshi, Department of Neurology, National Hospital Organization Shimoshizu Hospital, Chiba 284-0003, Japan
Takao Sugiyama, Department of Rheumatology, National Hospital Organization Shimoshizu Hospital, Chiba 284-0003, Japan
Shigenori Yamamoto, Department of Pediatrics, National Hospital Organization Shimoshizu Hospital, Chiba 284-0003, Japan
Naoki Ishige, Department of Neurosurgery, National Hospital Organization Shimoshizu Hospital, Chiba 284-0003, Japan
Author contributions: Tomizawa M and Shinozaki F performed upper endoscopy, constructed tables and figures, and wrote the manuscript; Hasegawa R and Shirai Y performed colonoscopy and upper endoscopy; Motoyoshi Y, Sugiyama T and Yamamoto S analyzed the data; and Ishige N supervised the investigation.
Ethics approval: Judgment of the research proposal by Institutional Ethics Committee Principle Investigator, Minoru Tomizawa.
Informed consent: All study participants or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Data sharing: No additional data available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Minoru Tomizawa, MD, PhD, Department of Gastroenterology, National Hospital Organization Shimoshizu Hospital, 934-5 Shikawatashi, Yotsukaido City, Chiba 284-0003, Japan. nihminor-cib@umin.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-43-4222511 Fax: +81-43-4213007
Received: November 4, 2014
Peer-review started: November 7, 2014
First decision: December 11, 2014
Revised: December 18, 2014
Accepted: January 21, 2015
Article in press: January 21, 2015
Published online: May 28, 2015
Processing time: 207 Days and 4 Hours
Peer-review started: November 7, 2014
First decision: December 11, 2014
Revised: December 18, 2014
Accepted: January 21, 2015
Article in press: January 21, 2015
Published online: May 28, 2015
Processing time: 207 Days and 4 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Differentiation of upper vs lower gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is crucial. Laboratory test variables were investigated for their ability to distinguish upper from lower GI bleeding from retrospective analysis. Total protein, hemoglobin, and lactate dehydrogenase were lower and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) was higher in patients with upper GI bleeding. The threshold BUN value for distinguishing upper from lower GI bleeding was 21.0 mg/dL, with a specificity of 93.0%.