High-dose barium impaction therapy for the recurrence of colonic diverticular bleeding: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: We compared the clinical efficacy of barium therapy and conservative therapy in preventing recurrence in patients with diverticular bleeding. BACKGROUND: Previous case reports have indicated that barium impaction therapy provides initial hemostasis for diverticular bleeding and prevention against rebleeding. METHODS: After spontaneous cessation of bleeding, patients were randomly assigned to conservative treatment (n = 27) or high-dose barium impaction therapy (n = 27). Patients were followed up for 1 year after enrollment of the last patient. The main outcome measure was rebleeding. RESULTS: Median follow-up period was 584.5 days. The probability of rebleeding at 30-day, 180-day, 1-year, and 2-year follow-up in all patients was 3.7%, 14.8%, 28.4%, and 32.7%, respectively. By group, probability at 1 year was 42.5% in the conservative group and 14.8% in the barium group (log-rank test, P = 0.04). After adjustment for a history of hypertension, the hazard ratio of rebleeding in the barium group was 0.34 (95% confidence interval, 0.12-0.98). No complications or laboratory abnormalities due to barium therapy were observed. Compared with the conservative group, the barium group had significantly (P < 0.05) fewer hospitalizations per patient (1.7 vs 1.2), units of blood transfused (1.9 vs 0.7), colonoscopies (1.4 times vs 1.1 times), and hospital stay days (15 days vs 11 days) during the follow-up period. No patients died and none required angiographic or surgical procedures in either group. CONCLUSIONS: High-dose barium impaction therapy was effective in the long-term prevention of recurrent bleeding, and reduced the frequency of rehospitalization and need for blood transfusion and colonoscopic examination. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier, UMIN 000002832.

High-dose barium impaction therapy is useful for the initial hemostasis and for preventing the recurrence of colonic diverticular bleeding unresponsive to endoscopic clipping.

Most cases of colonic diverticular bleeding stop spontaneously, but some patients experience massive bleeding that requires emergency treatment. Endoscopy can be useful when the bleeding source is identified. However, bleeding sometimes recurs within a short period despite the successful endoscopic treatment. Under such conditions, more invasive therapy such as interventional angiography or surgery is required and can prolong hospitalization and involve frequent blood transfusions. We report the case of a 68-year-old woman who presented with massive hematochezia. The patient was in hemorrhagic shock and required 16 units of blood transfusion to recover to general condition. We performed multidetector row computed tomography, but it showed no sites of bleeding. We conducted colonoscopy and identified the source of bleeding as colonic diverticula. We treated the bleeding with endoscopic hemoclips and achieved hemostasis, but bleeding recurred the next day. Four units of blood transfusion were required. We tried high-dose barium impaction therapy to avoid further blood transfusion and surgery. No complications or recurrent bleeding was observed for an 18-month period. Therapeutic barium enema is an option for colonic diverticular bleeding unresponsive to endoscopic clipping and may be effective for preventing recurrent bleeding.