Cyanoacrylate in the treatment of gastric varices complicated by multiple pulmonary emboli

Abstract

Bleeding gastric varices are increasingly being obliterated with the aid of endoscopic injection of n-butyl-cyanoacrylate (histoacryl) diluted with lipiodol. This glue acts as a tissue adhesive that polymerizes on contact with blood in a gastric varix. Severe glue pulmonary embolism is a rare complication of injection therapy. This case involves a 52-year-old man with fundal gastric varices, who developed multiple pulmonary emboli following glue injection with profound hypoxia requiring hospital admission for 13 days, but with eventual recovery of normal lung function.