title: Treatment of bleeding gastroesophageal varices: a report of forty-four cases.
abstract: Bleeding gastroesophageal varices is associated with a high morbidity and mortality. Forty-four cases of bleeding gastroesophageal varices were treated at the Department of Surgery, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur over four and a half years. Thirty-two of them had liver cirrhosis. Hepatitis B infection was noted in 13 and alcoholic abuse was present in 14 patients. Five patients had associated hepatoma. Thirty-four percent had gastric fundal varices and a third of these bled from them. A total of 179 endoscopic injection sclerotherapy sessions were performed averaging 4 per person. Rebleeding rate was 4% and mortality was high (50%) in these cases. It was concluded that injection sclerotherapy is a safe and effective means of controlling bleeding oesophageal varices. Operative surgery was employed in those who rebled after injection and would be considered in those in Child's A.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Universiti Kebangsaan, Kuala Lumpur.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Tay
authors.forename: Y P
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Leong
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Meah
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abdullah
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Zain
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D004932:Esophageal and Gastric Varices / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015911:Sclerotherapy / Q000379:methods