Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Endosc. Dec 25, 2015; 7(19): 1350-1354
Published online Dec 25, 2015. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v7.i19.1350
Challenges of banding jejunal varices in an 8-year-old child
Dalia Belsha, Mike Thomson
Dalia Belsha, Mike Thomson, Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Sheffield Children Hospital, Sheffield S10 2TH, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Belsha D wrote the case report; Thomson M contributed to reviewing the case report and the discussion around it; both authors contributed equally to the work.
Institutional review board statement: Case report has been accepted by the institutional board review to be submitted for publication.
Informed consent statement: Patient and guardian consent has been obtained for publishing the case report.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Dalia Belsha, MBChB, MRCPCH, Registrar, Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Sheffield Children Hospital, Weston Bank, Sheffield S10 2TH, United Kingdom. dalia.belsha@nhs.net
Telephone: +44-785-3287092 Fax: +44-114-2267956
Received: April 6, 2015
Peer-review started: April 8, 2015
First decision: May 14, 2015
Revised: June 30, 2015
Accepted: July 16, 2015
Article in press: July 17, 2015
Published online: December 25, 2015
Processing time: 260 Days and 3.1 Hours
Abstract

Endoscoic variceal ligation (EVL) by the application of bands on small bowel varices is a relatively rare procedure in gastroenterology and hepatology. There are no previously reported paediatric cases of EVL for jejunal varices. We report a case of an eight-year-old male patient with a complex surgical background leading to jejunal varices and short bowel syndrome, presenting with obscure but profound acute gastrointestinal bleeding. Wireless capsule endoscopy and double balloon enteroscopy (DBE) confirmed jejunal varices as the source of bleeding. The commercially available variceal banding devices are not long enough to be used either with DBE or with push enteroscopes. With the use of an operating gastroscope, four bands were placed successfully on the afferent and efferent ends of the leads of the 2 of the varices. Initial hemostasis was achieved with obliteration of the varices after three separate applications. This case illustrates the feasibility of achieving initial hemostasis in the pediatric population.

Keywords: Endoscopic variceal ligation; Endoscopic hemostasis; Pediatrics; Gastrointestinal hemorrhage; Varices; Variceal banding

Core tip: Banding jejunal varices in the pediatric population is feasible, safe and can achieve initial hemostasis in complex surgical patients.