A prospective randomized study of two sclerotherapy techniques for esophageal varices

In a study designed to compare the efficacy and safety of two techniques of injection sclerotherapy, 40 patients (30 with cirrhosis and 10 with portal vein block) were randomly allocated to the sheath or free-hand technique. Although the former was associated with significantly less bleeding within the first 24 hr of injection (p less than 0.05) but more postinjection pain (p less than 0.05) and esophageal stricture, there was a trend toward earlier obliteration of varices. This was most marked over the first three courses of injection, and although frequency of rebleeding was not significantly less, none of the 11 episodes in the sheath group were fatal, compared to 5 of 15 bleeds in those injected by the free-hand technique (p less than 0.05).