Gastric Ulcer Hemorrhage - a Potential Life-Threatening Complication of Intragastric Balloon Treatment of Obesity.

Some morbidly obese patients do not qualify for bariatric surgery due to general health contraindications. Intragastric balloon treatment might be a therapeutic option in the above-mentioned cases. It can prime super-obese patients with end-stage disease for bariatric surgery. As a neoadjuvant therapy before surgery, it leads to a downstage of the disease by preliminary weight reduction, to an improvement in general health and, in summary, to a reduction of the perioperative risk. It is generally considered to be a safe method. However, due to the wide range of possible complications and unusual symptoms after intragastric balloon treatment, an interdisciplinary, instead of only a surgical or endoscopic, treatment and follow-up might be recommended in these patients.

We here describe a potential life-threatening complication in the form of gastric bleeding as a consequence of intragastric balloon treatment and simultaneous aspirin taking and Helicobacter pylori infection.

There have been reports of some complications of intragastric balloon treatment. However, to the best of our knowledge there were no reports concerning life-threatening hemorrhage from gastric ulcer.