Efficacy of endoscopic therapy for gastrointestinal bleeding from Dieulafoy’s lesion

AIM: To investigate the endoscopic hemostasis for gastrointestinal bleeding due to Dieulafoy’s lesion. METHODS: One hundred and seven patients with gastrointestinal bleeding due to Dieulafoy’s lesion were treated with three endoscopic hemostasis methods: aethoxysklerol injection (46 cases), endoscopic hemoclip hemostasis (31 cases), and a combination of hemoclip hemostasis with aethoxysklerol injection (30 cases). RESULTS: The rates of successful hemostasis using the three methods were 71.7% (33/46), 77.4% (24/31) and 96.7% (29/30), respectively, with signif icant differences between the methods (P < 0.05). Among those who had unsuccessful treatment with aethoxysklerol injection, 13 were treated with hemoclip hemostasis and 4 underwent surgical operation; 9 cases were successful in the injection therapy. Among the cases with unsuccessful treatment with hemoclip hemostasis,7 were treated with injection of aethoxysklerol and 3 cases underwent surgical operation; 4 cases were successful in the treatment with hemoclip hemostasis. Only 1 case had unsuccessful treatment with a combined therapy of hemoclip hemostasis and aethoxysklerol injection, and surgery was then performed. No serious complications of perforation occurred in the patients whose bleeding was treated with the endoscopic hemostasis, and no re-bleeding was found during a 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSION: The combined therapy of hemoclip hemostasis with aethoxysklerol injection is the most effective method for gastrointestinal bleeding due to Dieulafoy’s lesion.