Endoscopic sclerotherapy (ethanolamine oleate injection) for acute rectal varices bleeding in a patient with liver cirrhosis.

Treatment for acute rectal bleeding from rectal varices in a patient with liver cirrhosis is often difficult. Herein, we report an elderly male with cirrhosis who successfully underwent endoscopic sclerotherapy for rectal bleeding from rectal varices. He had a history of esophageal varices, which were treated by endoscopic sclerotherapy. Three years after the treatment of esophageal varices, he developed massive bright red rectal bleeding. Taking into consideration the risk of treating rectal varices by surgery, we decided to try endoscopic sclerotherapy of the rectal varices. In this case, we injected 16.4 mL of 5% ethanolamine oleate with iopamidole to the rectal varices for the purpose of confirmation of the feeding vein for the varices. After six months, the rectal varices had disappeared. We believe endoscopic sclerotherapy might be an effective therapeutic modality for rectal varices with cirrhosis.