Active clinical trials for "Esophageal and Gastric Varices"

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of partial splenic artery embolization combined with endoscopic treatment and endoscopic treatment alone on portal hypertension in cirrhosis with hyperplenism or splenomegaly in esophageal and gastric varices.

Gastric varices occur in patients with portal hypertension, mostly secondary to liver cirrhosis. Although they bleed less frequently than oesophageal varices, gastric variceal bleeding tends to be more severe with reported higher mortality. Endoscopic variceal obliteration (EVO) by direct endoscopic injection (DEI) using tissue adhesives like glue, CYA or histoacryl demonstrated higher hemostasis and lower bleeding rates compared to band ligation or sclerotherapy. Nevertheless, CYA treatment is known to be associated with significant adverse events like para-variceal injection, hemorrhage from post injection ulcer, needle sticking in the varix, intra-peritoneal injection leading to peritonitis and adherence of the glue to the endoscope, fever, embolization into the renal vein, IVC, pulmonary or systemic vessels. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) offers unique access to abdominal arterial and venous vasculature. This has had the most clinical impact on the treatment of gastroesophageal varices, where EUS may play a role both in the management and can deliver therapy in the form of glue injection, endovascular coil placement or a combination of the two. EUS enables an assessment using Doppler to confirm vessel obliteration after treatment. However, targeting the perforating feeder vessel rather than the varix lumen itself may theoretically minimize the amount of CYA needed to achieve obliteration of GVs and thereby reduce the risk of embolization.

Increasing intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) with an abdominal binder will increase pressure within smaller esophageal varices which will therefore enhance the ability of capsule endoscopy to detect these varices better. Therefore, the aims of the investigators' study are as follows: To determine if using an abdominal binder to increase IAP can increase the detection rate of small esophageal varices when using capsule endoscopy. To determine if using an abdominal binder to increase IAP during capsule endoscopy has a comparable detection rate of small esophageal varices to conventional endoscopy.

The aim of this pilot study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of combined and simultaneous endoscopic variceal obliteration together with balloon occluded-retrograde transvenous obliteration (B-RTO) for the treatment of high-risk gastric varices

To date, there is no treatment strategies for these patients according to American Association of the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) practice guidelines and Baveno V consensus. Thus, we aim to compare the safety and efficacy of TIPS and conservative treatment (non-selective beta blockers, endoscopic therapy and/or anticoagulation) in patients with PVT and CPTV.

The purpose of the spring is to maintain the cyanoacrylate polymer of the gastric varix, forming a conglomerate spring-cyanoacrylate, and thus preventing their migration to the adhesive embolism. The introduction of the spring is held by a echo-guided puncture. The window can be puncture through the distal esophagus or directly in the gastric varix via retroflexion to the fundus. Another advantage of this technique is its use in the presence of bleeding, when large amounts of blood in the stomach hinders the injection of the cyanoacrylate, by pricking the distal esophagus that difficulty decreases. The first study of this technique was performed by Binmoeller et al (21) and had good results with 100% hemostasis and low rebleeding rate (16%), but more studies are needed to prove the safety and efficacy of this technique.

The cumulative risk of refractory ascites is in the order of 20% within five years of the development of ascites. An elevated sinusoidal pressure is essential for the development of ascites, as fluid accumulation does not develop at portal pressure gradient below 8 mm Hg, and rising corrected sinusoidal pressure correlates with decreased 24-hour urinary excretion of sodium.More recently, it has been hypothesised that bacterial translocation associated with portal hypertension in cirrhosis and related pathogen-associated, molecular pattern activated innate immune responses lead to systemic inflammation.This is associated with vasodilatation as well as release of proinflammatory cytokines, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, contributing to organ dysfunction.This activates sympathetic nervous system stimulating reabsorption of sodium in proximal,distal tubules, loop of Henle and collecting duct as well as the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, leading to sodium absorption from distal tubule and collecting duct.[5]Renal sodium retention and eventual free water clearance due to non-osmoticrelease of arginine-vasopressin and its action on V2 receptor in the collectingduct underlie the fluid retention associated with oedema and ascites in cirrhosis.The lowering of portal pressure using non selective beta blocker has also been shown to reduce the development of ascites, refractory ascites and hepatorenal syndrome.Furthermore, the effect of non slective beta blocker on intestinal permeability, bacterial translocation and inflammatory response has been proposed to mitigate the risk of developing spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.

Many physicians suggest repeating EVL every 1-2 weeks until esophageal varices are obliterated to prevent variceal rebleeding， however, the evidences supporting the efficacy of EVL intervals of 1-2 weeks are insufficient.This randomized controlled study was conducted in order to compare the long-term results of EVL when performed at two different results from monthly and bi-weekly treatments.

In the last years, important advances have been done in the treatment and prevention of fundal variceal bleeding in patients with cirrhosis. Experts agree that the combination of pharmacological and endoscopic therapy (with tissue adhesives) should be the first line therapy in the acute bleeding episode from isolated gastric varices (IGV1) or type 2 gastroesophageal varices (GOV2) varices; whereas transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is considered a rescue therapy. TIPS has been shown to effectively prevent variceal rebleeding but with a potential increase in the incidence of hepatic encephalopathy and/or liver failure. In this sense, a recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) in esophageal variceal bleeding showed that an early TIPS, performed during the first 72h after patient admission resulted in a significant decrease in failure to control bleeding and early and late rebleeding. Moreover, survival was also significantly increased as well as other portal-hypertension related complications (ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, hepatorenal syndrome, etc). The present study is directed at comparing the outcome of patients with acute bleeding from fundal varices (IGV1 or GOV2) treated by standard therapy (vasoactive drugs + endoscopic injection of tissue adhesives) with or without early TIPS (performed during the first 1-5 days after admission). Main end-point will be survival free of variceal rebleeding at 1 year from inclusion.

Esophageal variceal bleeding is a severe complication of portal hypertension. Banding ligation plus non-selective beta-blockers is the current recommendation for prevention of recurrent bleeding. However, the optimal duration of use of non-selective beta-blockers is not well defined. This study aims at comparing the rebleeding rate and adverse effects in patients using or without using propranolol after eradication of esophageal varices.