Abstract
Conventional esophagography with fluoroscopy is not so accurate in diagnosis of esophageal varices, andcorrect diagnosis can be established only 15-50% of cases. Although various approaches have been used to increasediagnostic accuracy, none of them has proved entirely satisfactory. This report represents our experience with theuse of Pro-banthine, which has spasmolytic action on smooth muscle, in 20 patients in whom esophageal varices arestongly suggested clinically, but conventional esophagogram reveals no evidence of varices or only mild findingsof varices. Repeated esophagogram after intramuscular injection of 30mg of Pro-banthine revealed findings ofesophageal varices in 4 of the 10 patients whose conventional esophagogram revealed normal finding, and revealedmore prominent findings of varices in other 10 patients whose conventional esophagogram revealed mild orsuspicious findings of varices. We recommand Pro-banthine enhanced esophagogram to increase diagnostic accuracywhen esophageal varices are suspected clinically.