Prophylactic endotracheal intubation in critically ill patients undergoing endoscopy for upper GI hemorrhage.

Background: Cardiopulmonary complications are common after endoscopy for upper GI (UGI) hemorrhage in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Objective: To evaluate the practice and outcome of elective prophylactic endotracheal intubation before endoscopy for UGI hemorrhage in the ICU.

Design: Retrospective, propensity-matched case-control study.

Setting: A 24-bed medical ICU in a tertiary center.

Patients: ICU patients who underwent endoscopy for UGI hemorrhage.

Main Outcome Measurements: Cardiopulmonary complications, ICU and hospital length of stay, and mortality. In a propensity analysis, patients who were intubated for airway protection before UGI endoscopy were matched by probability of intubation to controls who were not intubated before UGI endoscopy.

Results: Of 307 patients, 53 underwent elective prophylactic intubation before UGI endoscopy. The probability of intubation depended on the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III (APACHE III) score (OR 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2-1.6), age (OR 0.97; 95% CI, 0.95-0.09), the presence of hemetemesis (OR 1.9; 95% CI, 0.8-5.1), previous lung disease (OR 2.1; 95% CI, 0.8-4.9), and the number of transfusions (OR 1.1; 95% CI, 1.0-1.1 per unit). Nonintubated matched controls were identified for all but 4 patients with active massive hemetemesis, who were excluded from matched analysis. Cumulative incidence of cardiopulmonary complications (53% vs 45%, P = .414), ICU length of stay (median 2.2 vs 1.8 days, P = .138), hospital length of stay (6.9 vs 5.9 days, P = .785), and hospital mortality (14% vs 20%, P = .366) were similar.

Conclusions: Cardiopulmonary complications are frequent after endoscopy for acute UGI bleeding in ICU patients and are largely unaffected by the practice of prophylactic intubation.