English

Abstract

BACKGROUND Haemorrhoids are one of the most common anorectal conditions encountered in clinical practice and are recognised as a common cause of rectal bleeding, perianal itching and anal discomfort. Therapeutic treatment of haemorrhoids needs to be tailored according to grades and complication of haemorrhoids, patient preference and expertise of procedure. Very limited data is available regarding effectiveness of retrograde endoscopic injection sclerotherapy for the management of bleeding haemorrhoids. We wanted to study the effectiveness of retrograde endoscopic sclerotherapy (REST) for the management of various grades of bleeding internal haemorrhoids. METHODS A prospective study, included 87 patients with Gr. I, II and Gr. III symptomatic bleeding internal haemorrhoids. They were subjected to retrograde endoscopic sclerotherapy using Inj. Polidocanol to study its effectiveness in controlling bleeding. Effectiveness of the procedure was defined by stoppage of bleeding at 3 months follow up. RESULTS Bleeding stopped in 95.3 % cases after retrograde endoscopic sclerotherapy at 3 months follow up. No significant complications were observed with the procedure during the study period. CONCLUSIONS Retrograde endoscopic sclerotherapy is a safe, well tolerated and effective modality for the management of bleeding internal haemorrhoids. KEYWORDS Haemorrhoids, Retrograde Endoscopic Sclerotherapy