RESUMO
Objective To study the clinical characteristics of gastrointestinal (GI) hemorrhage in SARS and factors affecting its occurrence. Methods Retrospective study on clinical data of SARS cases complicated with gastrointestinal hemorrhage admitted to our hospital. Results Of 220 SARS cases gastrointestinal hemorrhage occurred in 20 patients (9% ) , with 13 males, 7 females, age ranged 19 -83 years (50?20) , onset at the 5th to 35th day of illness (22?9) , hematemesis/melena in 5 cases, positive occult blood test in 15. After treated with famotidine, omeprazole, reptilase and thrombin bleeding stopped in 16 cases within 7 to 10 days. Four cases died of respiratory failure. Rate of hemorrhage was lower in patients receiving prophylactic therapy with H2 receptor blocker famotidine than those without prophylactic therapy (P