Pleural effusions following endoscopic injection sclerotherapy for cirrhotic patients with esophageal varices.
OBJECTIVE
Endoscopic injection sclerotherapy is in widespread use for patients with esophageal varices. It is well known that pleural effusions are among complications following endoscopic sclerotherapy. However, there are few studies regarding the proportion of patients developing pleural effusions after sclerotherapy.


METHODS
Between August 1991 and September 1998, 575 endoscopic injection sclerotherapies were carried out in 128 patients. Chest radiographs were obtained prior to and 24 hours after all procedures. We also obtained other clinical data from all patients.


RESULTS
In total, 17.7% of post-sclerotherapy patients were diagnosed as having small amounts of pleural effusions. Logistic regression revealed pleural effusions after sclerotherapy to be associated with ascites, chest pain for 24 hours, total volume of sclerosant and submucosal injection of more than 4mL of sclerosant. In parallel with injection of an increasing amount of submucosal sclerosant, the proportion of patients with pleural effusion increased.


CONCLUSIONS
Pleural effusions were related to ascites, chest pain for 24 hours, total sclerosant volume and submucosal injection of sclerosant.
Kayama
Hideyuki
H
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Yokohama City University, 3-9 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama 236-0004, Japan.
Inamori
Masahiko
M
Togawa
Jun-ichi
J
Shimamura
Takeshi
T
Tokita
Yoko
Y
Umezawa
Tadashi
T
Sakaguchi
Takashi
T
Naitoh
Makoto
M
Nagase
Hajime
H
Nakajima
Atsushi
A
Saito
Toshifumi
T
Tominaga
Shizuo
S
Ueno
Norio
N
Tanaka
Katsuaki
K
Sekihara
Hisahiko
H
D001201:Ascites / Q000209:etiology; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000209:etiology; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000009:adverse effects; D004932:Esophageal and Gastric Varices / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections / Q000009:adverse effects; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000628:therapy*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009829:Oleic Acids / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000209:etiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012597:Sclerosing Solutions / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D015911:Sclerotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects*
D009829:Oleic Acids; D012597:Sclerosing Solutions; C033343:ethanolamine oleate