Retrograde venography during balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration of gastric varices

AbstractPurpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in thrombosis in gastric varices.Material and methods: Fourteen patients were studied who underwent balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (B-RTO) for gastric varices with a gastrorenal shunt. The B-RTO catheter was retained overnight in all patients. Balloon-occluded retrograde venography (B-RTV) was performed to evaluate the degree of thrombus formation. This evaluation was done twice during the overnight B-RTO procedure: A few hours after the procedure and on the following day. Investigated were the degree of thrombus formation observed by the first and second B-RTV, change in the degree of thrombus between the first and second B-RTV, and whether and how much sclerosing agent was administered on the second day.Results: The first B-RTV showed entire or partial enhancement of the gastric varix in seven (50%) cases and complete or almost complete lack of enhancement in the remaining seven cases. In four of the former seven ca...