N-Butyl-cyanoacrylate-assisted retrograde transvenous obliteration (NARTO) for gastric varices

Abstract

We describe the usefulness of n-butyl-cyanoacrylate (nBCA)-assisted retrograde transvenous obliteration (NARTO) for gastric varices in 3 consecutive patients. In all patients, balloon catheters were inserted into the gastrorenal shunt via the left renal vein. After injecting sclerosant into the gastric varix under balloon occlusion, nBCA was injected to the proximal side of the shunt, to completely embolize the shunt. NARTO is a simple technique to achieve stagnation of the injected sclerosant in gastric varices and to occlude a gastrorenal shunt. This procedure is also cost-effective, and may improve procedure time compared with original or modified balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration.

Keywords

• Balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration
• Gastric varix
• Gastrorenal shunt
• n-butyl cyanoacrylate