[Hemorrhage of esophageal varices: conservative or emergency treatment?]

The emergency treatment of bleeding esophageal varices still remain a very difficult problem. In this report results obtained with conservative and operative procedures will be compared. In particular 32 patients underwent transhepatic occlusion of the gastric vessels feeding varices, and 8 patients (total experience 27 cases) to emergency esophageal transection with the EEA stapler instrument. The conclusion is that both methods represent useful alternatives, in selected cases, rather than being antagonists.