Injection sclerotherapy of esophageal varices for patients undergoing emergency and elective surgery.

From October 1977 to September 1981, 68 patients with esophageal varices (30 emergency cases of bleeding and 38 elective cases) were treated by injecting 5% ethanolamine oleate into varices, using an esophagofiberscope. Esophageal bleeding was successfully controlled in 29 of 30 patients who had emergency surgery. None of the 38 patients who underwent elective operation had bleeding after treatment. When recurrence occurred 1 or 2 years after treatment, the same procedure was repeated. Pleuritis occurred in one of the patients who had emergency surgery, and bleeding (300 to 400 ml) from the esophagocardial junction occurred in two patients who underwent elective operation. These patients were treatment conservatively.