Embolization for major lower gastrointestinal haemorrhage: five-year experience

The management of major lower gastrointestinal haemorrhage has changed dramatically in the last 15 years. Innovations in coaxial catheter technology have allowed the interventional radiologist to reach the small peripheral mesenteric arteries and perform superselective embolization with a variety of agents. The present large series represents the 5-year experience of this technique at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, in a patient cohort with a high number of comorbidities. Technical success was achieved in 96% of cases. The clinical symptoms of mesenteric ischaemia developed in four patients after embolization and were managed conservatively in two. The procedure-related mortality was low when compared with the published complication rates for emergency surgery, in this clinical setting.