BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this prospective randomized study is to investigate the safety, efficacy, complications and recurrence of varices after repeated endoscopic injection sclerotherapy (EIS), and combined therapy of endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL) and repeated EIS, for the treatment of esophageal varices. MATERIAL AND METHODS:Sixty-one consecutively treated cirrhotic patients were examined. Thirty patients were placed randomly in the EIS group and the other 31 in the EVL+EIS group. For the EIS group, EIS was repeated at weekly intervals using 5% ethanol- amine oleate (EO) until all the varices had been eradicated. In the EVL+EIS group, EVL was done at the initial session, then EIS was repeated at weekly intervals from one week after EVL. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the EIS and EVL+EIS groups with regard to the rate of eradication (80.0% vs 74.2%), the total number of treatment (4.1 +/- 0.8 sessions of EIS vs EVL and 3.0 +/- 0.5 sessions of EIS) and hospitalization time (4.9 +/- 1.6 vs 4.4 +/- 1.0 weeks). The total volume of EO used for the EVL+EIS group was significantly less than that for the EIS group (26.3 +/- 8.3 vs 47.1 +/- 11.6 ml, p < 0.01) and the incidence of minor complications at the initial treatment in the EVL+EIS group was significantly (p < 0.01) lower than that in the EIS group. Follow-up endoscopy showed that the rate of attaining circumferential ulceration and the following fibrotic scarring in the EVL+EIS group was significantly lower than that in the EIS group (21.7% vs 91.7%, p < 0.01) and that the incidence of variceal recurrence was significantly higher in the EVL+EIS group than in the EIS group (39.1% vs 8.3%, p < 0.05) over a median follow-up of 12.3 months. CONCLUSION: The combined therapy of EVL and repeated EIS seems favorable from the viewpoint of fewer complications, but repeated EIS is preferable to combined therapy to avoid recurrence of the esophageal varices.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this prospective randomized study is to investigate the safety, efficacy, complications and recurrence of varices after repeated endoscopic injection sclerotherapy (EIS), and combined therapy of endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL) and repeated EIS, for the treatment of esophageal varices. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty-one consecutively treated cirrhotic patients were examined. Thirty patients were placed randomly in the EIS group and the other 31 in the EVL+EIS group. For the EIS group, EIS was repeated at weekly intervals using 5% ethanol- amine oleate (EO) until all the varices had been eradicated. In the EVL+EIS group, EVL was done at the initial session, then EIS was repeated at weekly intervals from one week after EVL. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the EIS and EVL+EIS groups with regard to the rate of eradication (80.0% vs 74.2%), the total number of treatment (4.1 +/- 0.8 sessions of EIS vs EVL and 3.0 +/- 0.5 sessions of EIS) and hospitalization time (4.9 +/- 1.6 vs 4.4 +/- 1.0 weeks). The total volume of EO used for the EVL+EIS group was significantly less than that for the EIS group (26.3 +/- 8.3 vs 47.1 +/- 11.6 ml, p < 0.01) and the incidence of minor complications at the initial treatment in the EVL+EIS group was significantly (p < 0.01) lower than that in the EIS group. Follow-up endoscopy showed that the rate of attaining circumferential ulceration and the following fibrotic scarring in the EVL+EIS group was significantly lower than that in the EIS group (21.7% vs 91.7%, p < 0.01) and that the incidence of variceal recurrence was significantly higher in the EVL+EIS group than in the EIS group (39.1% vs 8.3%, p < 0.05) over a median follow-up of 12.3 months. CONCLUSION: The combined therapy of EVL and repeated EIS seems favorable from the viewpoint of fewer complications, but repeated EIS is preferable to combined therapy to avoid recurrence of the esophageal varices.
Authors: Danielle Roberts; Lawrence Mj Best; Suzanne C Freeman; Alex J Sutton; Nicola J Cooper; Sivapatham Arunan; Tanjia Begum; Norman R Williams; Dana Walshaw; Elisabeth Jane Milne; Maxine Tapp; Mario Csenar; Chavdar S Pavlov; Brian R Davidson; Emmanuel Tsochatzis; Kurinchi Selvan Gurusamy Journal: Cochrane Database Syst Rev Date: 2021-04-10
Authors: Maria Corina Plaz Torres; Lawrence Mj Best; Suzanne C Freeman; Danielle Roberts; Nicola J Cooper; Alex J Sutton; Davide Roccarina; Amine Benmassaoud; Laura Iogna Prat; Norman R Williams; Mario Csenar; Dominic Fritche; Tanjia Begum; Sivapatham Arunan; Maxine Tapp; Elisabeth Jane Milne; Chavdar S Pavlov; Brian R Davidson; Emmanuel Tsochatzis; Kurinchi Selvan Gurusamy Journal: Cochrane Database Syst Rev Date: 2021-03-30