Histological examination of oesophageal rings removed at transection for varices reveals dilated intraepithelial blood filled channels. These are present in all oesophageal rings removed at transection for varices. A comparison has been made between rings removed from variceal patients with oesophageal rings removed during resections for oesophageal and gastric tumours. Although a small number ...

A 54-year-old male diagnosed with alcoholic cirrhosis had multiple episodes of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. He had a previous episode of hepatic encephalopathy. Baseline hepatic venous pressure gradient was 10 mmHg, and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score was 18. Gastroscopy revealed small low-risk esophageal varices (Figure 1a) and an active spurt from gastroesophageal varices t...

Budd-Chiari syndrome is characterized by hepatic venous outflow obstruction. We describe a patient with a huge caudate lobe of the liver due to Budd-Chiari syndrome. A 49-year-old woman was referred to Nippon Medical School Hospital to receive treatment for enlarged gastric varices. She had been followed up for idiopathic portal hypertension with deformity of the liver for 7 years and had under...

BACKGROUND All patients with liver cirrhosis should undergo screening endoscopy, but there are limitations and this approach places a heavy burden upon endoscopy units. The aim of this study was to compare multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and the platelet/spleen diameter ratio as non-invasive methods for the detection of gastroesophageal varices. METHODS The study included 38 cirrhoti...

INTRODUCTION Varices of the colon are a rare cause of lower gastrointestinal bleeding, usually associated with portal hypertension due to liver cirrhosis or other causes of portal venous obstruction. Idiopathic colonic varices are extremely rare. Recognition of this condition is important as idiopathic colonic varices may be a cause of recurrent lower gastrointestinal bleeding. CASE PRESENTAT...

INTRODUCTION Endoscopic surveilance of esophageal varices in patients with liver cirrhosis is expensive for the health system and uncomfortable for the patients. Recently, non-invasive ultrasound-based parameters seem to offer valuable informations about the status of esophaeal varices and thus challenge the need for repetitive endoscopic monitoring. MATERIAL AND METHOD We have performed a sy...

Background and aims Patients with advanced systemic illness or critically ill patients may present with upper gastrointestinal tract (GIT) bleeding which may need endoscopic intervention; however, this may expose them to unnecessary endoscopy. The aim was to validate a novel scoring system for risk stratification for urgency of GIT endoscopy in critically ill patients. Methods This is an obse...

BACKGROUND Esophageal varices-related GI bleeding occurs frequently and early in life in children with biliary atresia and it may be life threatening. OBJECTIVE We report the results of prophylactic sclerotherapy in 13 infants with biliary atresia and large varices. PATIENTS Mean age was 13 months, mean weight was 8.2 kg, mean total serum bilirubin was 258 mumol/L, and mean prothrombin time...

10.2217/14750708.4.1.91 © 20 Portal hypertension is one of the main consequences of cirrhosis. Esophageal varices are most often a consequence of portal hypertension, although they can also be formed in other areas of the body, including the stomach, duodenum, colon and/or rectum. Patients with esophageal varices have a strong tendency to develop bleeding. Conversely, varices do not bleed if th...

OBJECTIVES We aimed to explore the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) score, endotoxin, bleeding score and dynamic changes of D-dimer in chronic liver failure patients with portal hypertension and esophageal varices, and explored their potential contact with bleeding in short-term prognosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS Chronic liver failure patients with esophageal v...