ArticleCureus2025
Balloon-Occluded Retrograde Transvenous Obliteration (BRTO) for Gastric Varices: A Single-Center Experience in the Middle East.
Article in Cureus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsThis study aims to assess the short- and long-term outcomes of balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO) in managing gastric varices (GV).
methodsWe conducted a retrospective chart review of all patients who underwent BRTO for actively bleeding or at high-hemorrhagic-risk GV secondary to liver cirrhosis at our facility from January 2007 to December 2019. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used to evaluate short- and long-term postprocedural outcomes. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify significant factors associated with mortality. Survival was assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
resultsA total of 35 patients (mean age: 53.3 ± 9.9 years) were included, with the majority being men (N = 29, 82.9%). Most patients had Child-Pugh classification A (N = 14, 40%) or B (N = 13, 37.1%). Twenty-two patients (62.9%) underwent BRTO emergently, and 13 (37.1%) underwent the procedure prophylactically. Collateral embolization and hemostasis were achieved in all but one patient. Gastric variceal recurrence occurred in five patients (14%), and esophageal varices (EV) worsened in three (9%). During a mean follow-up of 96.2 ± 9 months, seven patients (20%) experienced variceal bleeding episodes, all managed endoscopically. The estimated post-BRTO survival rates at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years were 82.1%, 82.1%, 76.6%, and 68.1%, respectively. Preprocedural Child-Pugh classification A or B and total bilirubin levels < 3.5 mg/dL were associated with better survival rates.
conclusionBRTO is a safe and effective treatment for both emergent bleeding control and prophylactic management of high-hemorrhagic-risk GV.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.