Institutional Experience with Cyanoacrylate Treatment of Gastric Varices

......................................... Received: 11-02-16 Accepted: 25-07-16 Abstract The main causes of upper digestive tract bleeding are ulcers in the stomach and/or duodenum (peptic ulcer disease). With increasing frequency, patients are being seen who have bleeding gastric varices. This may be due to the increasing number of patients who have portal hypertension caused in turn by liver problems, especially cirrhosis. Current options for treatment of gastric varices range include preventive and prophylactic methods. These include therapy using drugs including vasopressin, somatostatin and their analogs, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS) endoscopic methods and surgery. Endoscopic methods include the use of bands and injection sclerotherapy and sealants such as N-Butyl-2-cyanoacrylate (Histoacryl®). Recently, on the basis of literature with increasingly higher levels of evidence and recommendations, we have started using cyanoacrylate at the Clínica Universitaria Colombia. We present our cases and we review the issue.