Endoscopic sclerotherapy of esophageal varices in an experimental animal model. A histomorphologic study.

Endoscopic sclerotherapy with Aethoxysclerol 2% was carried out in rabbits with esophageal varices. Nineteen animals were injected paravenously, and 17 were injected intravenously. The animals were killed between 1 h and 4 weeks after injection for histologic examination of the esophagus. None of the animals showed an acute total occlusive thrombosis of the large vessels, whereas edema and later fibrosis compressed the varices in the paravenously injected animals. After 4 weeks an almost complete repair with patent varices was observed in the intravenously treated group, whereas the varices in the paravenously injected group either had shrunk totally or were surrounded by a dense envelope of connective tissue. The study suggests that paravenous treatment of esophageal varices provides a higher degree of efficacy.