Long-term follow-up of patients with liver cirrhosis after endoscopic ethanol injection sclerotherapy for esophageal varices.
OBJECTIVE
Esophageal variceal hemorrhage is a severe complication of liver cirrhosis, and therapy for acute bleeding and prevention of hemorrhage are important. In this study, we evaluated the long-term cumulative survival rate of patients with esophageal varices after treatment with endoscopic ethanol injection sclerotherapy (EIS group) or pharmacological therapy (non-EIS group).


METHODS
All 110 patients were treated for their esophageal varices and their prognosis and complications were analyzed during the follow-up period.


RESULTS
The cumulative survival rate in the primary preventive EIS group was superior to that in the non-EIS group. The preventive EIS group had greater long-term survival rate than those treated on an emergency group. With respect to emergency therapy, the EIS group had better survival rates than the non-EIS group during the two-year follow-up period after esophageal variceal therapy.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that primary preventive EIS is an effective therapy for survival of patients with esophageal varices over a long-term period.
First Department of Internal Medicine, Mie University School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu, Mie 514-8507, Japan.
Hiroshi
H
Okano
Katsuya
K
Shiraki
Hidekazu
H
Inoue
Tomoyuki
T
Kawakita
Masatoshi
M
Deguchi
Kazushi
K
Sugimoto
Takahisa
T
Sakai
Shigeru
S
Ohmori
Kazumoto
K
Murata
Takeshi
T
Nakano
D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal; D004932:Esophageal and Gastric Varices / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D015911:Sclerotherapy
D000431:Ethanol