C-arm CT-guided foam sclerotherapy for the treatment of gastric varices.

The authors describe here the use of foam sclerotherapy under C-arm computed tomography (CT) guidance for the treatment of gastric varices via balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration in seven patients and percutaneous transhepatic obliteration in one patient. All gastric varices were occluded successfully after replacement of blood by foam, which was trapped in the gastric varices as shown by C-arm CT. It also helped reduce the amount of sclerosant, an issue that is associated with severe complications, such as hemolysis, allergy, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and others. Foam sclerotherapy under C-arm CT guidance is a promising tool in the therapeutic armamentarium against gastric varices.