Improving outcome following life-threatening gastrointestinal bleeding not amenable to endoscopy in an ASA grade 5 patient: lessons learned

We present a 74-year-old woman, who developed massive haematemesis and hypovolaemic shock. Her management was challenging, as the bleeding site could not be identified during oesophagogastroduodenoscopy, she was not fit for a general anaesthesia and not able to lie flat due to heart failure, caused by pericardial effusion. She underwent an emergency laparotomy and gastrotomy under a combined thoracic epidural and lumbar spinal regional anaesthesia in a sitting position, 45° to horizontal plane. The bleeding site was identified as a Dieulafoy lesion on the posterior wall of the stomach and was controlled by under running the lesion. She had an uneventful recovery and is symptom-free post-surgery for a year at present.