A Comparison of 5% Ethanolamine Oleate and 2% Sodium Tetradecyl Sulfate in Endoscopic Injection Sclerotherapy

In the EO group, seven out of 30 cases died during the course of study, which included five patients of hepatocellular carcinoma, one hepatic failure and one uncontrolled bleeding. Except for the seven deceased patients and seven cases which could not be analyzed because of either too short observation time or loss of contact, 29.4% patients of varices were completely eradicated, 35.5% were improved, and 35.5% had no change. In the STS group patients, 6 out of 85 cases died of hepatic failure and 13 cases were unable to be analyzed. The rest 36.6% were completely eradicat ed, a significant improvement amounted to 39.4% and no change, 24.2%. The sucessful bleeding control rate of EO and STS groups were 80% and 83.3% respectively, and the recurrent bleeding rate of patients who had bleeding episodes were 31.8% and 30% in EO and STS, respectively. It was not significantly different in eradicating esophageal varices, control of bleeding, and preventing recurrent bleeding in both groups. In the EO group, post-injection retrosternal pain occurred in 20%, odynophagia 6.7%, fever 10%, ulcer 6.7% and esophageal stricture 3.3%. In the STS group, 29.4% showed retrosternal pain, 8.2% odynophagia, 21.1% fever, 15.3% ulcer and 3.5% esophagral stricture. The total complica tion . rate was 33.3% and 57.6% in EO and STS groups, respectively. Higher incidence of post-scler otherapy complications was noted in the STS than the EO group (p <0.05).