Is endoscopic band ligation superior to injection therapy for Dieulafoy lesion?

Dieulafoy lesion is a rare but serious cause of gastrointestinal system bleeding. An aberrant submucosal artery, which was described in 1884, causes the bleeding. The lesion can be located anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract but is most commonly found in the proximal stomach up to 6 cm from the gastroesophageal junction. Increased experience in endoscopy has led to an increased frequency of its proper diagnosis. Various methods are used to achieve successful hemostasis by endoscopy in Dieulafoy lesion; however, comparative studies about the success rates of these methods are still needed. In this study, we compared two of these endoscopic hemostatic methods: band ligation, and injection therapy in Dieulafoy lesions.

In this prospective study, 18 patients admitted to the Emergency Surgical Unit between January 2002 and December 2005 with upper gastrointestinal bleeding diagnosed as Dieulafoy lesion were included. Diagnose of Dieulafoy lesion was made at initial or second-look endoscopy. Patients were randomized in two groups according to therapy method: injection therapy and band ligation groups. Therapy was applied immediately after recognizing the lesion at the same endoscopic procedure. Two groups were compared regarding demographical data, presence of comorbid diseases, history of medication and previous gastrointestinal system bleeding, hemodynamic status, laboratory values, need for transfusion, endoscopic findings, success rate of the treatment method, mean hospital stay, complications, and recurrence of bleeding.

Of 588 patients admitted with upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage, Dieulafoy lesion was recognized in 18 cases (3.1%) at initial or second-look endoscopy. All patients were men with a mean age of 62.8 (range, 30–80) years. Band ligation was applied to ten patients and the remaining eight were treated by injection therapy. During the follow-up period, rebleeding occurred in six of the patients (75%) with injection therapy, whereas no rebleeding occurred for the patients in the band ligation group. The rebleeding rate and mean hospital stay was significantly higher for the injection therapy group.

Our study suggests that of the endoscopic treatment methods, band ligation is superior to injection therapy for the treatment Dieulafoy lesions.