BACKGROUND Proximal or 'downhill' esophageal varices are a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Unlike the much more common distal esophageal varices, which are most commonly a result of portal hypertension, downhill esophageal varices result from vascular obstruction of the superior vena cava (SVC). While SVC obstruction is most commonly secondary to malignant causes, our review of...

We present a case of mucosal esophageal dissection in a 44-year-old patient with alcoholic cirrhosis admitted for upper digestive bleeding. The endoscopic aspect was of chronic mucosal dissection in the esophagus and 3rd degree esophageal varices with red signs. To our knowledge, it is the only case with spontaneous esophageal mucosal dissection and portal hypertension with esophageal varices.

BACKGROUND Long-term follow-up studies of patients with extrahepatic portal venous obstruction (EHPVO) after eradication of esophageal varices using endoscopic sclerotherapy (EST) are limited. METHODS Between 1985 and 1994, 223 patients with bleeding esophageal varices due to EHPVO underwent variceal eradication using EST. Regular annual clinical and endoscopic follow-up data were available f...

BACKGROUND/AIMS The relationship between portal hemodynamics and fundal varices has not been well documented. The purpose of this study was to understand the pathophysiology of fundal varices and to investigate bleeding risk factors related to the presence of spontaneous portosystemic shunts, and to examine the hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) between fundal varices and other varices. ...

BACKGROUND Portal hypertension is a common consequence of hepatic cirrhosis, which causes esophageal varices. Bleeding from varices has a high mortality rate. The present gold standard for diagnosing varices is endoscopy. Considering endoscopy side effects and patients' low acceptance, there have been always efforts for finding alternative diagnostic methods including Doppler ultrasonography (U...

INTRODUCTION Standard endoscopic mucosal resection or endoscopic submucosal dissection is a procedure for patients with minute cancers, complicated with esophageal varices that puts them at high risk of bleeding. CASE PRESENTATION We present the case of a 77-year-old Japanese man with alcoholic cirrhosis who underwent a routine endoscopy examination as a screening procedure for esophageal var...

PURPOSE Esophageal varices are a dangerous complication of liver cirrhosis. The development of cost effective, noninvasive means for prediction of large esophageal varices could reduce the use of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in variceal screening and also provide an alternative way to confirm the results of conventional endoscopic diagnosis. Previously proposed predictive models are neither...

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...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Endoscopy as a screening modality for esophageal varices is becoming difficult because of its invasiveness, cost, and increased burden of liver cirrhosis. This study aims to determine the diagnostic accuracy of simple and noninvasive markers in detecting esophageal varices. MATERIALS AND METHODS Four variables (platelet count, portal vein diameter, splenic diameter, and ratio ...

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...