Esophagogastric devascularization as the last option in the management of variceal bleeding

Variceal bleeding is a clinical emergency that may be difficult to treat in some patients, especially those with prehepatic portal hypertension, failed sclerotherapy, and with contraindications to transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt. In such patients there are few remaining options. The authors refer to three patients for whom the modified Sugiura procedure was the only remaining option for the treatment of variceal bleeding. Two of them had pre-hepatic portal hypertension, and one had hepatic cirrhosis, and in all, other standard treatment options and failed. The modified Sugiura devascularization and esophageal transection was performed without operative or postoperative complications and in the follow-up, (mean: 4.2 years), there was no recurrence of variceal bleeding. The authors recommend the modified Sugiura procedure as safe and effective for patients in whom other treatment options for variceal bleeding have failed.