[Propranolol in the prevention of digestive bleeding in cirrhotic patients]

Propranolol was administered to fifteen cirrhotic patients at requires doses, to reduce cardiac output by 25%. Patients were followed up for a period of 1 to 2 years. Bleeding rates and esophagic varices size were compared against fifteen patients treated with placebo, serwing as control group. On the treated group only one patient showed bleeding, detected by hemoccult while controls showed a 46.6% of bleedings which cause two deaths. The endoscopic size of varices decreased in 73.3% on the treated group, this was not observed on the controls. Propranolol is a useful medicament for the reduction of esophagic varices size and prevention of digestive bleeding in cirrhotic patients.