A NEW study has shown that using a gelatin sponge combined with NBCA (n-butyl cyanoacrylate) glue provides the most effective and durable control of arterial gastrointestinal bleeding compared to other commonly used embolisation techniques.
The retrospective analysis included 68 patients with acute, high-risk gastrointestinal arterial bleeding, who underwent embolisation using one of three strategies: gelatin sponge alone, sponge with microcoils, or sponge with NBCA. Clinical success was defined as stopping the bleed without recurrence within 30 days.
The group treated with gelatin sponge and NBCA achieved 100% clinical success, significantly outperforming both the sponge alone group (65.2%) and the sponge plus microcoils group (91.3%). Patients in the NBCA group also had the lowest complication rates (13.6%) and no rebleeding events, compared to a 34.8% rebleed rate in the sponge-only group.
Multivariate analysis confirmed the clear advantage of combination embolic strategies, with the NBCA group showing a 24-fold increased likelihood of treatment success. These benefits were consistent regardless of whether bleeding occurred in the upper or lower gastrointestinal tract.
“These findings highlight the value of using combination embolisation materials, particularly NBCA, to improve both efficacy and safety in managing gastrointestinal bleeds,” the authors concluded.
Given the urgent and life-threatening nature of arterial gastrointestinal bleeding, the results support a shift in clinical practice toward more advanced embolisation approaches to optimise patient outcomes and reduce the risk of rebleeding.
Reference
Lai L et al. Comparative efficacy of gelatin sponge, microcoils, and nbca in arterial gastrointestinal bleeding: a retrospective study. BMC Gastroenterol. 2025;DOI: 10.1186/s12876-025-04010-x.
