Bauditz J. Effective treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding with thalidomide - Chances and limitations. World J Gastroenterol 2016; 22(11): 3158-3164 [PMID: 27003992 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i11.3158]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dr. Juergen Bauditz, Department of Internal Medicine, Helios Klinik Anhalt/Zerbst, Friedrich-Naumann Street 53, 39261 Zerbst, Germany. juergen.bauditz@helios-kliniken.de
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 21, 2016; 22(11): 3158-3164 Published online Mar 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i11.3158
Effective treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding with thalidomide - Chances and limitations
Juergen Bauditz
Juergen Bauditz, Department of Internal Medicine, Helios Klinik Anhalt/Zerbst, 39261 Zerbst, Germany
Juergen Bauditz, Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectiology, Charité Campus Mitte, Charité University Hospital, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Author contributions: Bauditz J solely contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Juergen Bauditz, Department of Internal Medicine, Helios Klinik Anhalt/Zerbst, Friedrich-Naumann Street 53, 39261 Zerbst, Germany. juergen.bauditz@helios-kliniken.de
Telephone: +49-3923-739151 Fax: +49-3923-739291
Received: July 15, 2015 Peer-review started: July 17, 2015 First decision: August 31, 2015 Revised: November 30, 2015 Accepted: January 30, 2016 Article in press: January 30, 2016 Published online: March 21, 2016
Core Tip
Core tip: Traditionally, bleeding from gastrointestinal angiodysplasias has been treated by hormonal therapy. After a randomized study finally demonstrated that hormones are not efficient, treatment has switched to endoscopic coagulation techniques. Thalidomide was recently proven to be highly effective for treatment of bleeding from gastrointestinal angiodysplasias and is also useful for bleeding in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia. However, thalidomide is rarely used as it is still notorious for its teratogenicity. Patients with gastrointestinal bleeding related to angiodysplasias are generally old and teratogenicity is not an important issue. Other side-effects of thalidomide like neurotoxicity may limit treatment options but can be monitored safely.
