ESOPHAGEAL TAMPONADE FOR BLEEDING VARICES - CONTROLLED TRIAL BETWEEN SENGSTAKEN-BLAKEMORE TUBE AND LINTON-NACHLAS TUBE

Google Scholar
  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 75  (4) , 566-569
Abstract
To investigate the effectiveness and safety of the Sengstaken-Blakemore (SB) tube compared with the Linton-Nachlas (LN) tube, a randomized clinical trial was carried out between both types of balloon. Patients (79) suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding attributed to esophagogastric varices were included in the study. Both types of esophageal tamponade showed great effectiveness in obtaining primary hemostasis (86%), but when the bleeding was from esophageal varices, the SB tube achieved permanent hemostasis more frequently (52%) than did the LN tube (30%). In bleeding gastric varices the SB tube failed in all of the cases but primary hemostasis was obtained with the LN tube in 50% of them. Better tolerance and greater effectiveness were obtained when the SB tube was applied without external traction. The usefulness of esophageal tamponade for bleeding varices was higher when performed within 6 h or the onset of hemorrhage.