Rockall Score for Upper GI Bleeding (Complete)
Determines severity of GI bleeding.
Use this score for known upper GI bleed patients with a completed endoscopy. Use the Pre-Endoscopy Rockall Score for patients who have not yet had endoscopy.
Advice
- The Rockall score predicts mortality better than does chance alone, but overall should be interpreted with caution—a score of ‘0’ in some studies suggested very low mortality, but in others was not a consistent indicator.
- Other scores such as the Glasgow-Blatchford Score may perform better, particularly for identifying very low risk patients. According to the American College of Gastroenterology’s management guidelines for patients with overt upper GI bleeding, neither the Rockall nor Glasgow-Blatchford Scores can reliably predict which individual patients will need an intervention, except for patients with a Glasgow-Blatchford Score of 0 (< 1% chance of requiring intervention).
Management
- Consider diagnostic endoscopy for patients with high risk of mortality from upper GI bleeding.
- Consider ICU level of care for patients who are hemodynamically unstable from upper GI bleeding.
Critical Actions
Patients with a high mortality or risk of rebleeding should be considered for intervention and/or monitoring.