AIM:Anaemia caused by acute upper gastrointestinalbleeding is treated with blood transfusion or iron,but patientsusually face a two-month recovery period from post-haemorrhage anaemia.This prospective,randomised,open,pilot study was designed to investigate whether recombinanthuman erythropoietin(Epoetin)therapy acceleratehaematocrit increase in the post-bleeding recovery period.METHODS:We studied hospitalised patients admittedbecause of acute ulcer bleeding or haemorrhagic gastritis,who had a haematocrit of 27-33% and did not receive bloodtransfusions.One day after the endoscopic confirmation ofcessation of bleeding,they were randomised either toerythropoietin(20 000 IU Epoetin alfa subcutaneously,ondays 0,4 and 6)plus iron(100 mg im,on days 1-6,(G_1)oriron only(G_2).Haematocdt was measured on days 0,6,14,30,45,and 60,respectively.RESULTS:One patient from G_1 and two from G_2 were lost tofollow-up.Therefore,14 and 13 patients from G_1 and G_2respectively were analysed.Demographic characteristics,serumiron,ferritin,total iron binding capacity,reticulocytes,andhaernatoait were not significantly different at entry to the study.Median reticulocyte counts were significantly different betweengroups on day six(G_1:4.0,3.0-6.4 vs G_2:3.5,2.1-4.4%,P=0.03)and median haematocrit on day fourteen [G_1:35.9,30.7-41.0 vs G_2:32.5,29.5-37.0%(median,range),P=0.04].CONCLUSION:Erythropoietin administration significantlyaccelerates correction of anemia after acute ulcer bleeding.The haematocrit gain is equivalent to one unit of transfusedblood two weeks after the bleeding episode. AIM: Anaemia caused by acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding is treated with blood transfusion or iron, but patients are actually face a two-month recovery period from post-haemorrhage anaemia. This prospective, randomized, open, pilot study was designed to investigate whether recombinant human erythropoietin (Epoetin) therapy accelerated haematocrit increase in the post-bleeding recovery period. METHODS: We studied hospitalized patients admittedbecause of acute ulcer bleeding or haemorrhagic gastritis, who had a haematocrit of 27-33% and did not receive bloodtransfusions. One day after the endoscopic confirmation of accessation of bleeding , they were randomized either toerythropoietin (20 000 IU Epoetin alfa subcutaneously, ondays 0,4 and 6) plus iron (100 mg im, on days 1-6, (G_1) oriron only (G_2). Haematocdt was measured on days 0, 6, 14, 30, 45, and 60, respectively. RESULTS: One patient from G_1 and two from G_2 were lost tofollow-up. Beforefore, 14 and 13 patients from G_1 and G_2 were separately analyzed. Demographic chara cteristics, serumiron, ferritin, total iron binding capacity, reticulocytes, and hannatoait were not significantly different at entry to the study. Median reticulocyte counts were significantly different between groups on day six (G_1: 4.0, 3.0-6.4 vs G_2: 3.5, 2.1-4.4 %, P = 0.03) and median haematocrit on day fourteen [G_1: 35.9, 30.7-41.0 vs. G_2: 32.5, 29.5-37.0%, median = 0.04] .CONCLUSION: Erythropoietin administration significantlyaccelerates correction of anemia after acute ulcer bleeding. haematocrit gain is equivalent to one unit of transfusedblood two weeks after the bleeding episode.