[Endovascular embolization in gastrointestinal hemorrhage]

The indications, the technique and the choice of materials for transcatheter embolisation in three patients are described. A 73-year-old woman with Henoch-Schönlein vasculitis was admitted with haematemesis and melaena. Angiography showed active haemorrhage in a branch of the pancreaticoduodenal artery. The common hepatic artery was catheterised up to the pancreaticoduodenal artery and superselective transcatheter embolisation was accomplished using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) particles of 0.3-0.5 mm diameter. A 82-year-old woman with chronic cardiac decompensation developed serious haematemesis after a papillotomy. With the help of PVA particles the bleeding A. pancreaticoduodenalis inferior ramus posterior was embolised. Several days after a pancreaticoduodenectomy for a carcinoma of the papilla of Vater a 75-year-old man went into shock. The angiogram revealed haemorrhage of the right hepatic artery. With the combination of microcoils and a coaxial balloon catheter proximal of the bifurcation of the hepatic artery haemorrhage could be arrested. Haemorrhage did not recur and all patients could be discharged in good condition. When local anatomy has been changed by earlier surgery or when patients in bad general condition are concerned, transcatheter embolisation can offer the solution in active haemorrhage.