Post esophageal variceal band ligation pain, another insult to injury

Objective: To measure and characterize pain in post esophageal variceal band ligation patients

Study Design: Cross sectional observational study

Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out in Combined Military Hospital Kharian which is a tertiary care hospital, from Dec 2014 to Aug 2015

Material and Methods: All patients of esophageal varices due to any underlying pathology requiring esophageal variceal band ligation [EVBL] were included in this study. Patients unwilling for EVBL were excluded from the study

Their EVBL was done with the help of Upper Gastrointestinal Pentax High definition 90i series Video Endoscope and subsequently they were inquired about the details of pain till next session of banding

Results: Out of 86 patients 63 [73%] were males and 23 [27%] were females. Their mean age was 54 years with SD +/- 12. Pain was present in 47 [54%] patients and 39 [46%] were pain free. It was severe in 3 [7%], moderate in 34 [72%] and mild in 10 [21%] patients. Out of post EVBL pain group 30 [65%] patients experienced pain after first EVBL session, 12 [25%] in subsequent and 5 [10%] after all the sessions

Conclusion: Post EVBL pain is a common complication. Mostly it is mild to moderate in intensity and needs attention in almost half of the patients to relief the suffering

Sucralfate and Lidocain: Antacid 50:50 solution in post esophageal variceal band ligation pain

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of pain relief of Sucralfate and lidocain: antacid 50:50 solution in post esophageal variceal band ligation pain

Methods: All patients who had under gone Esophageal Variceal Band Ligation [EVBL] were included in the study. Patients un-willing to be included in the study or those who didn't have post EVBL pain were excluded. Patients with post EVBL pains were divided into two groups: one group was given sucralfate and other was given lidocaine: antacid 50:50 solution. Both were inquired about the duration of the pain relief after the medication. The results were analyzed on SPSS 23. Independent samples T-test was performed to find out whether the difference in duration of pain relief was significantly different in the two groups

Results: Out of 110 patients who have EVBL, 66[60.00%] had pain and 44[40.00%] were pain free. In the pain group 46 [69.7%] were given sucralfate and 20 [30.3%] were given lidocain: antacid 50:50 solution. Mean duration of pain relief in two groups was 2.78 [SD +/- 2.096] and 2.5 days [SD +/- 0.76] respectively. Independent samples T-test results revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in the duration of pain relief between these two groups with p value 0.426

Conclusion: Both Sucralfate and Lidocain: antacid 50:50 solutions are effective in relieving the post EVBL pain. However, no statistically significant difference in duration of pain relief was detected in separate groups of patients treated with either treatment