Endoscopic Hemostasis in Exulceratio Simplex - Dieulafoy's Disease Hemorrhage: A Review of 25 Cases

Abstract

Background and Study Aims: Dieulafoy's disease is a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal tract hemorrhage. The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of endoscopic hemostasis and to analyze the mortality of patients with hemorrhage due to Dieulafoy's disease.

Patients and Methods: The retrospective analysis included patients from our institution who had undergone urgent endoscopic examination of the upper digestive tract and hemostatic interventions in the period between January 1994 and December 1996.

Results: Twenty-five patients were examined (18 men and 7 women, average age 52.6, SD ± 15.3, range 25 - 78). In 20 patients endoscopic injection sclerotherapy was performed (diluted epinephrine 1 : 10,000 plus polidocanol 1 %) and Nd:YAG laser photocoagulation in five patients. In all patients a total of 44 interventional endoscopies were carried out. Repeated endoscopic hemostasis did not prove successful in two patients (8 %, 2 men), and they were treated operatively. During the postoperative period one patient died because of multi-organ failure. The total mortality rate of all patients in which endoscopic hemostasis was done was 16 % (4/25). None of the 21 surviving patients had rebleeding on long-term follow-up (mean: 29.4 months).

Conclusions: Endoscopic hemostasis is a major therapeutic advance in the management of Dieulafoy's disease hemorrhage. Interventional endoscopy has decreased the need for surgical management and significantly reduced mortality.