Endoscopic sclerotherapy versus propranolol in prevention of recurrent variceal bleeding in patients with child's B and C cirrhosis: a preliminary report.

Thirty two patients with cirrhosis of the liver of Child's B and C class and an episode of endoscopically proven variceal bleed were randomly assigned to receive endoscopic sclerotherapy (EST) or oral propranolol for the prevention of recurrent upper gastrointestinal bleeding. EST was performed at 3 week intervals using 1% polidocanol intravariceally, till eradication of varices. Propranolol dose was adjusted to reduce the resting heart rate by 25% of the basal value (mean +/- SD, 194.3 +/- 63.9 mg/day) Two patients in the propranolol group were excluded within 48 hours due to side effects of the drug. Thirty patients (EST-16, propranolol-14) completed the trial. Patients were followed up for a maximum of 480 days. Mean follow-up in the EST and propranolol groups was 217 and 243 days respectively. The median bleeding free intervals were 480 and 194 days and number of rebleeding episodes was eight and 16 respectively in the EST and propranolol groups (both p = ns). Our study suggests a trend in favor of EST in preventing variceal rebleeding in patients with hepatic cirrhosis who belong to Child's B and C classes.