Abstract
Thirty patients who had esophageal varices with R-C sign were treated with injection sclerotherapy. The aim of our method was to perform an intravascular injection of ethanolamine oleate (15ml). Their tentative result and prognosis were evaluated. Twenty-two of 30 cases (73.3 %) were good cases showing no R-C sign after injection sclerotherapy. Eight of the 30 cases (26.7%) were unchanged cases in which R-C sign did not disappear completely after injection sclerotherapy. In good cases, 12 cases (54.5%) required one procedure and 10 cases (45.5%) required more than two procedures. The complications were retrosternal pain (33.3%), pyrexia (25.0%) esophageal ulcer (21.7%), hemoglobinuria (3.3%), dyspnea (1.7%) and severe hepatic failure (1.7%). Endoscopically, 14 cases were followed up for more than 6 months. The recurrence of R-C sign was recognized from 7.5 to 21 months. The mean interval of the recurrence was more than 10.8 months. From the above mentioned, we conclude that in order to prevent bleeding of esophageal varices, we should perform endoscopy every 6 months after injection sclerotherapy, and if R-C sign recurs, we use this procedure to improve R-C sign.
