BACKGROUND: Small intestinal variceal bleeding is an unusual cause of gastrointestinal hemorrhaging of portal hypertensive patients, but once it occurs it may lead to life-threatening bleeding because this problem is difficult to diagnose and treat. This study investigated the efficacy of balloon occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (B-RTO) to treat small intestinal variceal bleeding. METHODS: From 2003 to 2007, 6 patients with small variceal bleeding were treated by B-RTO. The characteristics of the patients, B-RTO procedures, prognosis, and occurrence of risky esophageal and gastric varices were evaluated according to their medical records. RESULTS: Three-dimensional (3-D) angiography by MD-CT was useful for the diagnosis of small intestinal varices and the draining vessels. In all cases, variceal bleeding was controlled by B-RTO treatment, although rebleeding was recognized in one patient after 30 months (16.6%). All patients were alive throughout the follow-up except 1 patient who died of liver failure (6-44 months). Risky esophageal varices and gastric varices occurred in 2 patients (33.3%) after B-RTO. However, no variceal bleeding occurred. CONCLUSION: B-RTO was found to be an effective treatment modality which provided good initial hemostasis, thereby eradicating ectopic small intestinal varices. Copyright 2010 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.
BACKGROUND: Small intestinal variceal bleeding is an unusual cause of gastrointestinal hemorrhaging of portal hypertensivepatients, but once it occurs it may lead to life-threatening bleeding because this problem is difficult to diagnose and treat. This study investigated the efficacy of balloon occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (B-RTO) to treat small intestinal variceal bleeding. METHODS: From 2003 to 2007, 6 patients with small variceal bleeding were treated by B-RTO. The characteristics of the patients, B-RTO procedures, prognosis, and occurrence of risky esophageal and gastric varices were evaluated according to their medical records. RESULTS: Three-dimensional (3-D) angiography by MD-CT was useful for the diagnosis of small intestinal varices and the draining vessels. In all cases, variceal bleeding was controlled by B-RTO treatment, although rebleeding was recognized in one patient after 30 months (16.6%). All patients were alive throughout the follow-up except 1 patient who died of liver failure (6-44 months). Risky esophageal varices and gastric varices occurred in 2 patients (33.3%) after B-RTO. However, no variceal bleeding occurred. CONCLUSION: B-RTO was found to be an effective treatment modality which provided good initial hemostasis, thereby eradicating ectopic small intestinal varices. Copyright 2010 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.
Authors: Edward W Lee; Sammy Saab; Antoinette S Gomes; Ronald Busuttil; Justin McWilliams; Francisco Durazo; Steven-Huy Han; Leonard Goldstein; Bashir A Tafti; John Moriarty; Christopher T Loh; Stephen T Kee Journal: Clin Transl Gastroenterol Date: 2014-10-02 Impact factor: 4.488