Acute upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage (UGIH) is a common condition that leads to hospital admission, and has significant associated morbidity and mortality, especially in the elderly. The most common causes of acute UGIH are nonvariceal. Although up 70% of non-variceal bleeds settle with conservative measures, endoscopic therapy is the established method for treating those bleeds for which this is not sufficient. Despite advances and increased expertise in managing upper gastrointestinal bleeding, the associated mortality of up to 15% has remained unchanged for several years.