ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the efficacy of endoscopic histoacryl injection in cirrhotic patients with newly-developed esophagogastric varices (EGV) who have previously undergone splenectomy combined with pericardial devascularization.Methods:From January 2015 to January 2020, 125 cirrhotic patients with EGV treated with endoscopic histoacryl injection at the Department of Gastroenterology, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, were included in the retrospective analysis. There were 45 patients in the group of splenectomy combined with pericardial devascularization (splenectomy group for short) and 80 patients in the non-splenectomy group. The efficacy of endoscopic treatment, postoperative variceal improvement, rebleeding rate, and complications were analyzed between the two groups.Results:Endoscopic histoacryl injection was successfully completed in all 125 patients, and the median volume of histoacryl was 4.5 mL. The overall effective rate in splenectomy and non-splenectomy group was 80.0% (36/45) and 57.5% (46/80), respectively. The difference in the number of significantly effective, effective, and ineffective cases between the two groups was statistically significant (16, 20, 9 cases, and 20, 26, 34 cases, respectively, χ 2=6.469, P=0.039). Two and 14 patients developed rebleeding in the splenectomy group and non-splenectomy group, respectively; and the difference in the rebleeding rate between the two groups was statistically significant (4.4% VS 17.5%, Log-rank P=0.039). No patient died within 1 year in either group, and no serious complications such as ectopic embolism occurred. Conclusion:After splenectomy combined with pericardial devascularization in cirrhotic patients with EGV and hypersplenism, the application of histoacryl has better short-term efficacy and can significantly reduce the rebleeding rate compared with the non-splenectomy group.