Sclerotherapy-resistant esophageal varices with enormously enlarged cephalad collateral vessels predictable using...

The most common cause of failure of sclerotherapy is recurrent bleeding before eradication is complete. We investigated factors which would make feasible prediction of cases where esophageal varices would be more difficult to eradicate.

Seven hundred and seventy patients underwent endoscopic injection sclerotherapy at Kyushu University Hospital from January, 1982 to June, 1989. For 580 of these patients we used the same sclerosant and a transparent overtube. For 19 of 580 patients over two months were needed to eradicate the varices (group 2), while eradication was complete in less than one month in 64 patients (group 1).

There was a tendency toward a lower platelet count and a higher indocyanine green retention rate in group 2, but with no statistically significant difference. The number of sessions required for eradication of the varices was 8.1 +/- 2.5 and the total volume of sclerosant used was 98.2 +/- 62.3 ml in group 2, and 3.0 and 47.0 +/- 10.9 ml, respectively, in group 1 (p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in the number of sessions between the patients with large-sized and moderate-sized varices. Based on the extent of cephalad collateral vessels on the venous phase of celiac or superior mesenteric angiography, the vascular pattern could be classified into three types; Grade III, the most developed type was present in 100% and 57.1% on celiac and superior mesenteric angiography in group 2, while the rates were 11.1% and 5.6% in group 1 (p < 0.05).

This retrospective study shows that in patients with enormously enlarged cephalad collateral vessels it may be difficult to eradicate the varices, and in such cases, preoperative portography is most useful to predict whether or not esophageal varices can be eradicated.