[Investigation of autopsy cases of patients who had endoscopic injection sclerotherapy performed, classified by their age at the time of initial therapy].

We performed endoscopic injection sclerotherapy (EIS) for esophageal varices on approximately 214 patients between October 1981 and July 1994 at our hospital. Of the 214 patients 114 have died, and we divided them into two groups according to their age when EIS was first performed: (i) group 1, less than 70 years old; and (ii) group 2, more than 70 years old. We investigated the efficacy of EIS for the group 2 patients with esophageal varices by comparing the two groups. EIS was considered effective in the group 2 patients because there was no difference between the two groups in the period of observation after EIS, but the time to re-therapy in the autopsy cases of this age group was significantly less. As a result of investigating the surgical outcome and the direct cause of death, it was suggested that; in future, prevention of death by hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatic failure was necessary for both groups.