Efficacy and safety of argon plasma coagulation for the treatment of hemorrhagic radiation proctitis

Objective: to evaluate the efficacy, safety and medium-/long-term clinical course of patients undergoing endoscopic treatment with argon plasma coagulation for hemorrhagic radiation proctopathy. Design: descriptive, retrospective study with medium- and long-term follow-up. Patients, material and methods: ten patients were treated with argon plasma coagulation for hemorrhagic radiation proctopathy between July 1998 and February 2003. Inclusion criteria were: evidence of chronic rectal bleeding, consistent endoscopic findings, and absence of any other cause of hematochezia after a comprehensive ano-rectal examination and complete colonoscopy. The equipment used was a standard colonoscope, an argon delivery unit, an argon plasma coagulation probe 1.5 mm in internal diameter, and a high-frequency electrosurgical generator. Consecutive treatment sessions were programmed whenever it was considered necessary until all mucosal lesions had been treated. Clinical and evolutive follow-up was performed with a focus on tolerance, efficacy, and potential argon plasma coagulation-related complications. Data were updated by personal or telephonic interview. Results: in all patients, chronic rectal bleeding stopped after the last treatment session. The mean number of treatment sessions to stop symptoms was 1.7. Mean follow-up was 31.1 months. All sessions were well tolerated, similarly to standard rectoscopy. In one case a recurrence of rectal bleeding was observed four months later, which required two repeat sessions. Four patients were anemic at inclusion. Three of them reported a resolved anemia at the end of the study. No delayed argon plasma coagulation-related complications such us ulcers or strictures were seen. Conclusions: argon plasma coagulation appears to be a useful, effective and safe treatment for rectal bleeding resulting from chronic radiation proctitis when compared to standard medical and endoscopic treatments. These successful outcomes seem to persist even after long-term follow-up.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Serna Higuera,C. de la, Martín Arribas,M. I., Rodríguez Gómez,S. J., Pérez Villoria,A., Martínez Moreno,J., Betancourt González,A.
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Sociedad Española de Patología Digestiva 2004
Online Access:	http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1130-01082004001100003
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