The frequency of retrosternal pain and sensation of esophageal obstruction was low and was not significantly different in comparison to other study groups. APC was found to be a safe and easy procedure. The recorded complications PCI-32765 mw in our patients were less than those recorded by

Nakamura et al.11 in Japan. They evaluated endoscopic induction of mucosal fibrosis by APC after band ligation for esophageal varices versus ligation alone. They studied 30 patients in each group and they found the most common complication in patients of the combined group to be pyrexia (≥ 38°C) in 19 patients (63.3%). Development of severe strictures occurred only in one patient, which was confirmed by resistance to passage of the endoscope. This stricture was subsequently alleviated by treatment with an orally administered proton pump inhibitor. The frequency of retrosternal pain and sensation of esophageal obstruction was low and not significantly different between

the two groups. They concluded that APC is generally a safe procedure, see more and endoscopic ligation of esophageal varices combined with APC is superior to ligation alone. Cipolletta et al.27 compared the use of APC after eradication of varices by band ligation in 16 patients versus ligation alone in 14 patients. During the course of the study, no serious complications were noted after argon plasma coagulation. A transient fever occurred in 13 patients and eight complained of dysphagia or retrosternal pain or discomfort. In our study, recurrence of varices in Group IV patients was recorded in two patients (4%) during the follow-up period. Nakamura et al.11 recorded that the recurrence-free rate in their study at 24 months after ligation plus APC was 74.2%, while Cipolletta et al.27 recorded no recurrence of varices or variceal hemorrhage in the argon plasma coagulation group. Furukawa et al.28 in their study on 11 patients with imminent signs of esophageal varix rupture performed endoscopic variceal ligation with consequent improvement of esophageal varices from F3 (largest sized varices) to absent or F1 (straight), followed by APC. They found find more during their follow up, that

no recurrence of esophageal varices occurred in any patient, and they concluded that APC is an effective prevention consolidation therapy after endoscopic variceal band ligation without serious complications. This slight difference between our results and those of others may be explained by our limiting the area of APC therapy to 5 cm only. Recurrence incidence of esophageal varices after eradication in splenectomized patients was 15% and 10.7% in non-splenectomized patients. This is supported by Bo Liu et al.29 who stated that although splenectomy with pericardial devascularization has been commonly used for portal hypertension and can control bleeding, rebleeding is likely to occur because of the existing portal hyperdynamic pressure.