Clinical Research Directory

Endoscopic Application of Tranexamic Acid and Sucralfate in Gastrointestinal Tumor Bleeding: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Gastrointestinal bleeding is a common disease among the population in Taiwan, with gastrointestinal tumor bleeding accounting for 3-5% of cases. The pathophysiology of gastrointestinal tumor bleeding is unique, involving fragile surface mucosa, abnormal vascular proliferation, and malformation, making endoscopic hemostasis challenging. Conventional endoscopic hemostasis methods such as hemostatic injections, clips, or thermal coagulation have suboptimal success rates below 80%, with recurrence rates exceeding 50%. Recent clinical trials have demonstrated that hemostatic powder spraying effectively enhances hemostasis for gastrointestinal ulcers and reduces recurrence rates. Our previous research repurposed tranexamic acid in a powder form to enhance hemostasis for peptic ulcer and applied sucralfate powder to prevent postpolypectomy wound bleeding. Study aim Our research team combines previous experience by using tranexamic acid and sucralfate drug powders to spray onto bleeding gastrointestinal tumors to achieve hemostatic effects. Additionally, tumor-derived exosomes are associated with tumor angiogenesis and growth, so we hypothesize that gastrointestinal tumor bleeding may be linked to VEGF and miR-21 expression within gastrointestinal tumor exosomes. Study method This study is a clinical randomized controlled trial conducted at National Cheng Kung University Hospital. We will recruit 60 patients with gastrointestinal tumor bleeding undergoing endoscopic hemostasis. Patients in the experimental treatment group will receive additional topical administration of 1.5 g of tranexamic acid and 3 g of sucralfate drug powder. Immediate hemostasis and 30-day bleeding recurrence will be observed. Enrolled patients will also provide blood and tumor specimens for exosome analysis, evaluating the predictive effect of extracted tumor exosomes' VEGF and miR-21 on bleeding risk. This study will explore the association between specific tumor exosome expression levels and bleeding, serving as a basis for bleeding risk assessment and innovative therapies.

Prevention of Delayed Post-polypectomy Bleeding by Endoscopic Sucralfate Spray in High-risk Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background： Colonoscopy can detect colon polyps and perform excision to the polyps to prevent colon cancer. However, delayed polypectomy bleeding is one of the complications to be noticed, which has an occurrence rate of about 1-2%, especially large polyps over 1cm with hot snare polypectomy. Colonoscopic clipping was applied for the treatment of bleeding. However, prophylactic clipping after polypectomy was not proved to reduce the rate of delayed polypectomy bleeding. Sucralfate is used for peptic ulcer treatment, which can become a protective layer on the wound to prevent environmental injury. Our preliminary data revealed the endoscopic sucralfate spray could reduce the delayed bleeding rate among general populations. Whether sucralfate can prevent polypectomy wounds from delayed bleeding in high-risk polyps is unknown. Aim： This study aimed to compare the efficacy in reducing delayed bleeding rate between sucralfate administration and prophylactic clipping on high-risk polypectomy wounds. Method： This is a randomized clinical trial. The study will recruit 160 patients. After randomization, 80 patients will be classified into the Sucralfate group and 80 into the Clipping group. The participants will receive an endoscopic survey as routine, and we will enroll all patients who take antiplatelets or anticoagulants with polyp size ≥ 1 cm after hot snare polyp excision. Exclusion criteria include patients with an allergy to sucralfate. If immediate polypectomy bleeding occurs, we will apply standard endoscopic therapy by either local injection of diluted epinephrine, heater probe coagulation, and/or hemoclipping. After then, we will spray 3g of sucralfate powder through colonoscopy precisely on the polypectomy wound in the Sucralfate group, and prophylactic clipping will be placed on the polypectomy wound in the Clipping group. All enrolled patients will be monitored for delayed bleeding for 28 days after the colonoscopy. Expected results and clinical importance: This study is expected to find that the use of sucralfate powder can more effectively reduce the bleeding risk in high-risk wounds compared to prophylactic clips. In addition to promoting the implementation of national health policies and reducing public exposure to the risk of complications, it can also help avoid medical expenses resulting from complications.

Bleeding Rate After EGD and Colonoscopy in Patients Who Continue to Take Antithrombotic Agents

The bleeding rate of both EGD (including biopsy) and colonoscopy (including biopsy, cold or hot snare polypectomy, or EMR) in patients who continue to take various antithrombotic drugs is studied prospectively. The immediate or delayed bleeding that requires hemostatic clipping or other endoscopic treatments is defined as the bleeding. Immediate bleeding requiring hemostatic clipping is defined as spurting or oozing which continued for more than 30 seconds. Delayed bleeding is defined as bleeding that requires the endoscopic treatment within 2 weeks after endoscopy. Prophylactic clipping is not performed after taking biopsy and doing polypectomy. Additionally, investigators evaluate the rate of injured submucosal arteries of the excised specimen when the bleeding occurs.