Esophageal sclerotherapy: an effective modality in children.

During the past five years, sclerotherapy has been used at our institution in 13 children for the management of recurrent major variceal bleeding. The varices were secondary to extrahepatic portal hypertension in seven patients and to intrahepatic portal hypertension in the remaining six. Sclerotherapy was performed under direct vision using either rigid or flexible endoscopic equipment, and the sclerosing agents were injected directly into the varices. The average age at initiation of sclerotherapy was 9 years (range: 1 to 19 years). The follow-up has ranged from 2 to 4 1/2 years with a mean of 3 1/2 years. Complete obliteration of all varices was obtained in eight of these patients. Two children have minimal residual varices, in one of whom 17 sclerotherapy procedures have been performed to date. One additional patient had a severe episode of bleeding during esophagoscopy, and transesophageal ligation of varices was required for control. Two patients have died following initiation of sclerotherapy. In neither case was the death the result of bleeding esophageal varices or a complication of endosclerosis. Bleeding from varices was the major clinical problem in all of these children, and this problem has been largely corrected by the sclerotherapy program. With one exception, there have been no episodes of variceal bleeding requiring transfusion in these patients following initiation of this therapy. One child developed an esophageal ulcer postinjection, but none have developed esophageal strictures. One patient developed an allergic reaction to the sclerosant that was treated during subsequent injections with prior administration of an antihistamine (diaphenhydramine chloride) and steroids.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)