[Complications of endoscopic sclerotherapy of esophageal varices]

During the last decade, the endoscopic sclerotherapy has taken a prominent part in the treatment of digestive haemorrhage following up oesophageal varices rupture. Several complications have been reported after this method: Some of them are of no importance and frequent, occurring in 20 to 60% of cases, and essentially represented by retrosternal pains, dysphagia and fever. Others are major, observed in 16% of cases, with stenosis type or oesophagus perforation or pleuropulmonary lesions. Preventive measures, if well applied, could reduce the incidence of these complications observed after endoscopic sclerosis of oesophageal varices.