Background Angiographic embolization is now considered the first-line therapy for acute gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding refractory to endoscopic therapy. The success of angiographic embolization depends on the detection of the bleeding site. This study aimed to identify the clinical and procedural predictors for the angiographic visualization of extravasation, including angiography timing, as well as analyze the outcomes of angiographic embolization according to the angiographic visualization of extravasation. Methods The clinical and procedural data of 138 consecutive patients (mean age, 66.5 years; 65.9% men) who underwent angiography with or without embolization for acute non-variceal GI bleeding between February 2008 and July 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. Results Of the 138 patients, 58 (42%) had active extravasation on initial angiography and 113 (81.9%) underwent embolization. The angiographic visualization of extravasation was significantly higher in patients with diabetes (p = 0.036), a low platelet count (p = 0.048), high maximum heart rate (p = 0.002) and AIMS65 score (p = 0.026), upper GI bleeding (p = 0.025), and short time-to-angiography (p = 0.031). The angiographic embolization was successful in all angiograms, with angiographic visualization of extravasation (100%). The clinical success of patients without angiographic visualization of extravasation (83.9%) was significantly higher than that of patients with angiographic visualization of extravasation (65.5%) (p = 0.004). In multivariate analysis, the time-to-angiography (odds ratio 0.373 [95% CI 0.154–0.903], p = 0.029) was the only significant predictor associated with the angiographic visualization of extravasation. The cutoff value of time-to-angiography was 5.0 h, with a sensitivity and specificity of 79.3% and 47.5%, respectively (p = 0.012). Conclusions Angiography timing is an important factor that is associated with the angiographic visualization of extravasation in patients with acute GI bleeding. Angiography should be performed early in the course of bleeding in critically ill patients.

Among gastrointestinal emergencies, acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding remains a challenging clinical problem owing to significant patient morbidity and costs involved in management. Endoscopic hemostatic therapy is the mainstay of treatment and decreases the incidence of re-bleeding, the need for surgery, morbidity, and mortality. However, in 8%–15% of patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding, endoscopic hemostatic therapy does not successfully control bleeding. Trans-arterial coil embolization is an effective alternative treatment for endoscopic hemostatic failure; however, this procedure can induce adverse outcomes, such as non-target vessel occlusion, vessel dissection and perforation, and coil migration. Coil migration is rare but causes severe complications, such as re-bleeding and bowel ischemia. However, in most cases, coil migration is local and involves spontaneous healing without serious complications. Here, we report the case of a patient who underwent trans-arterial coil embolization of the gastroduodenal artery with the purpose of controlling massive duodenal bleeding, resulting in a fatal outcome caused by coil migration.

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