Indications and results of endoscopic examinations in intensive care units

The aim of the study was to analyze retrospectively all endoscopies performed on 3 intensive care units in a tertiary referral center with more than thousand beds during a period of ten years. The study evaluates all endoscopies with regard to indication and findings. In the years 1989-1998 a total of 326 endoscopic examinations was performed, most of them were done as an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (88%). In more than 87% the indication was a suspected gastrointestinal bleeding. The most frequent findings consisted in ulcers of the stomach or duodenum and esophageal varices, then followed by Mallory-Weiss-lesions, esophagitis and erosive gastritis. The etiology of gastrointestinal bleeding was similar to that of non intensive care patients. Specific causes of bleeding such as esophagitis caused by nasogastric tubes were only found in 3% of all bleedings. The numbers of endoscopies on the 3 intensive care units were increasing during the ten year period, however the numbers of the patients treated on the intensive care units were also increasing, but the increase of endoscopies was not always parallel to the rising number of intensive care patients.