The use of fibrin glue in refractory coagulopathic epistaxis

Epistaxis can be particularly difficult to treat when a patient has a coagulopathy, even if the area bleeding is visible. Where routine measures fail to arrest the bleeding (e.g., nasal cautery and packing), the application of fibrin glue is successful in stopping the bleeding without having to address the underlying coagulopathy. Ten patients with epistaxis secondary to an underlying coagulopathy were treated by local application of fibrin glue to the area bleeding. The bleeding stopped immediately in all patients when the fibrin glue was applied. No patients suffered complications. Fibrin glue application should be considered as a cost-effective means of controlling epistaxis from an identifiable area in the nasal cavity in patients with a coagulopathy.