Endoscopic injection sclerotherapy (EIS) has been established as the therapy of esophageal varices. However, EIS is sometimes difficult even for experts when varices are thin (F0 or F1). In order to perform EIS more easily, we have been using a transparent hood manufactured by the Olympus (MAJ-295 or MAJ-296) for such varices.
In this retrospective study we investigated the effectiveness of the device on 66 patients whose varices were diagnosed as F0 or F1. Of these 32 patients underwent EIS with the hood, while 34 underwent EIS without the device.
The successful EIS rate was significantly higher in the former (93.8%) than the latter (70.6%,
p<0.05). The angiographical visualization rate of the verices was also significantly higher in the former (84.4%) than the lather (55.9%,
p<0.05).
By using the hood we could fix the needles at the targeted varices for longer time compared with conventional methods by lessening the influence of peristalsis of esophagus and respiration movement. We believe that EIS with the help of the hood will become a standard treatment of EIS.
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