Javed lqbal Farooqi, Rukhsana Javed Farooqi, Najibul Haq, Siddiq ur Rehman, Sultan Mahmood..
Treatment and Outcome of Variceal Bleeding - A Comparison of two Methods.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;10(4):131-3.

A prospective, multicentre, randomized, clinical trial was conducted to compare sclerotherapy with and without octreotide for the control of acute variceal bleeding. The study was conducted from January 1994 to December 1998 by including 141 patients; of which 69 patients were treated by sclerotherapy alone (Group I) whereas 72 patients were treated by a combination of octreotide and sclerotherapy (Group II). Both groups were comparable regarding baseline characteristics and severity of the disease. Sclerotherapy was performed by injecting ethanolamine oleate, and the octreotide was given by IV infusion (50ug/hr) for 48 hours. Bleeding stopped in 58 patients (84%) in Group I and in 69 patients (96.0%) in Group II. Re-bleeding occurred in 13 patients (18%) of group I and in 2 patients (2.8%) of group II Six patients (86%) died in Group I whereas only one patient died in Group II. Difference between results of the two groups was statistically significant (p<0.05). It was concluded from this study that octreotide must be initiated as an immediate first line therapy in acute variceal bleeding in addition to other supportive measures and must be followed by sclerotherapy as early as possible.

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