Efficacy and Rationale of Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Thrombin Injection in Visceral Artery Pseudoaneurysm Not Amenable to Angioembolization.

Background: Pseudoaneurysm usually occurs after vascular injuries or erosions such as in trauma or inflammation like pancreatitis and is associated with high morbidity and mortality.

Aim: The aim of study is to assess efficacy and safety of EUS-guided thrombin injection in pseudoaneurysm.

Materials and methods: Prospective data collection was done at SMS Hospital, Jaipur, from January 2015 to March 2023. All patients with pseudoaneurysm were consecutively enrolled.

Results: Twenty patients (M/F, 18:2) with median age of 41 years (25-58 years), were studied. Underlying etiology of pseudoaneurysm was chronic pancreatitis in 75% of the patients, blunt trauma abdomen in 15% of the patients, recurrent acute pancreatitis in 5%, and idiopathic in 5% of the patients. At the time of admission, mean hemoglobin was 6.7 g/dL (3.4-8.2), with median blood transfusion requirement was 2 units (0-6 units). Hemoglobin values after 4-6 weeks showed a significant improvement ( t = 9.21, P < 0.05).Mean dose of human thrombin required for complete obliteration of pseudoaneurysm was 520 ± 188.6 IU per patient (300-800 IU). Amount of thrombin (IU) dose needed to achieve complete obliteration correlated well significantly with the dimension of pseudoaneurysm, P value less than 0.05 ( R = 0.80). Median follow-up duration in this study was 44 months (3-84 months), which was the longest follow-up period by far.

Conclusions: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided thrombin injection in visceral artery pseudoaneurysm is a safe and effective alternative for patients not amenable for digital subtraction angiography-guided angioembolization.