Sclerotherapy on Demand with Polidocanol to Treat HHT Nosebleeds

Epistaxis is the most prevalent clinical symptom in Hereditary Haemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT), causing anaemia and decreasing the quality of life (QOL). Since 2013, in Hospital Universitario Fundacion Alcorcon, more than 150 HHT patients have been treated by nose sclerotherapy on demand. This study shows the results of 105 patients treated with sclerotherapy between 2017 and 2019. HHT-ESS (epistaxis severity score) was used to measure the severity and frequency of epistaxis. QOL was determined before and after treatment by EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D) and the visual analogue scale (VAS) on the health condition. According to HHT-ESS before treatment, 22 patients presented mild, 35 moderate, and 47 severe epistaxes. Sclerotherapy significantly decreased the frequency and severity of epistaxis, with a significant drop of HHT-ESS in 4.6 points, from 6.23 +/- 2.3 to 1.64 +/- 1.6. Furthermore, the QOL significantly improved, the EQ-5D scale raised from 0.7 +/- 0.26 pre- to 0.92 +/- 0.16 post-treatment (p < 0.05). Additionally, VAS mean value showed a significant increase from 4.38 +/- 2.4 to 8.35 +/- 1.2. The QOL improvement was correlated with the ESS decrease. In conclusion, this study shows that on-demand sclerotherapy at the office significantly reduces HHT epistaxis as well as improved the patients' QOL.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates that sclerotherapy significantly reduces the severity and frequency of epistaxis in HHT patients between 2017 and 2019, leading to a marked improvement in their quality of life.