To Scope or Not to Scope

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
IN this issue of the Journal, Peterson and his colleagues attempt to come to grips with a fierce controversy about the role of emergency endoscopy in patients with acute hemorrhage of the upper gastrointestinal tract (UGIT). Why is there such a gulf between those who defend to the death the value of emergency endoscopy and those who triumphantly fail to find any beneficial effects? The controversy began in the 1960s when Palmer demonstrated that early endoscopy could establish the site of bleeding in most of such patients. He was convinced that the "vigorous diagnostic approach" improved therapy, and recommended . . .