Published online Jan 16, 2024. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v16.i1.29
Peer-review started: October 6, 2023
First decision: December 6, 2023
Revised: December 7, 2023
Accepted: December 27, 2023
Article in press: December 27, 2023
Published online: January 16, 2024
Processing time: 100 Days and 21.6 Hours
Left-sided portal hypertension (LSPH) is often secondary to pancreatic diseases, including pancreatitis and pancreatic tumors. Given normal liver function and no obvious clinical symptoms in LSPH patients, gastric varices (GV) have received little attention.
To study the clinical value of our previously reported modified endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided selective N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate (NBC) injection procedure in patients with LSPH-induced gastric variceal hemorrhage.
To evaluate and compare the clinical safety and efficacy between modified EUS-guided selective NBC injections and conventional endoscopic NBC injection procedures for gastric variceal hemorrhage in LSPH.
LSPH patients from the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed from October 2019 to September 2023. The technical and clinical success rates, operation time, NBC doses, perioperative complications, postoperative hospital stay, and recurrent bleeding rates of the modified and conventional groups were analyzed.
The technical success rate was 100% for both types of injection procedures, and clinical success rates were 90.9% and 100% in the modified and conventional groups, respectively (P = 0.41). In comparison to patients in the conventional group, patients in the modified group demonstrated significantly reduced NBC doses (2.0 ± 0.6 mL vs 3.1 ± 1.0 mL; P = 0.004) and increased endoscopic operation time (71.9 ± 11.9 min vs 22.5 ± 6.7 min; P < 0.001). Meanwhile, the perioperative complications, postoperative hospital stay, and recurrent bleeding rates for patients in the modified group were 0%, 4.4 ± 1.6 d, and 9.1%, respectively, vs 6.3%, 5.8 ± 2.2 d, and 18.8% for those in the conventional group.
The modified EUS-guided selective NBC injection procedure demonstrated reduced injection dose and no increased perioperative complications compared to conventional endoscopic NBC injection procedures. Thus, it is safe and effective in treating patients with LSPH-induced gastric variceal hemorrhage.
This present study built on our prior research and compared the safety and efficacy of a modified EUS-guided selective NBC injection procedure for gastric variceal hemorrhage in LSPH with conventional endoscopic NBC injection procedures. EUS-guided advanced endoscopic procedures will undoubtedly be the future direction of endoscopic treatment.