Massive gastrointestinal bleeding from gastrointestinal varices is one of the most serious complications in patients with portal hypertension. However, if no bleeding point can be detected by endoscopy in the predilection sites of gastrointestinal varices, such as the esophagus and stomach, ectopic gastrointestinal variceal bleeding should be considered as a differential diagnosis. Herein, we r...

BACKGROUND & AIMS Endogenous heparinoids have been detected by thromboelastography and quantified by clotting based anti-Xa activity assays in patients with cirrhosis, but their presence in variceal bleeding has not been established yet. METHODS Clotting based anti-Xa activity was measured in A) 30 cirrhotics with variceal bleeding, B) 15 non-cirrhotics with peptic ulcer bleeding, C) 10 cirrh...

Duodenal varices are uncommon causes of gastrointestinal bleeding. In the literature, treatment of duodenal variceal bleeding is limited to case reports and case series. Treatment options are endoscopic, interventional radiologic and surgical modalities. In this article, we presented a case of a successful duodenal variceal bleeding treatment with transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt. ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS) are used in patients with cirrhosis for the prevention of variceal rebleeding. METHODS We retrospectively evaluated re-bleeding rate, patency, mortality, and transplant-free survival (TFS) in cirrhotic patients receiving TIPS implantation for variceal bleeding between 1994-2014. RESULTS 286 patients received TIPS (n =...

BACKGROUND Measurement of the hepatic venous pressure gradient may identify a sub-optimal response to drug prophylaxis in patients with a history of variceal bleeding. However, the cost-effectiveness of routine hepatic venous pressure gradient measurements to guide secondary prophylaxis has not been examined. METHODS A Markov model was constructed using specialized software (DATA 3.5, William...

In liver cirrhosis, variceal bleeding is the last in a chain of events initiated by the increase in portal pressure (estimated in clinical practice by the hepatic venous pressure gradient). When hepatic venous pressure gradient goes above 10 mmHg the patient is at risk of developing varices, and when hepatic venous pressure gradient reaches 12 mmHg variceal bleeding might develop. Currently, th...

Congenital hepatic fibrosis is an uncommon fibrocystic disorder affecting the intrahepatic bile ducts. It has autosomal recessive inheritance. The main consequence of this condition is portal hypertension and it is often misdiagnosed as cirrhosis. Patients with congenital hepatic fibrosis usually present during childhood or early adolescence with oesophageal variceal bleeding. Portosystemic shu...

Aim To investigate whether mean platelet volume (MPV) is a predictor of variceal bleeding in patients with cirrhotic portal hypertension. Materials and methods This prospective cohort was performed in the internal medicine department of our tertiary care center. Cirrhotic patients were allocated into two groups: Group I consisted of 31 cases without a history of variceal bleeding, whereas gro...

BACKGROUND Since esophageal variceal bleeding is associated with a high mortality rate, prevention of bleeding might be expected to result in improved survival. The first trials to evaluate prophylactic sclerotherapy found a marked beneficial effect of prophylactic treatment. These results, however, were not generally accepted because of methodological aspects and because the reported incidence...

Bleeding from esophageal varices (EVs) or gastric varices (GVs) is a catastrophic complication of chronic liver disease. In this paper, we review the management of bleeding EVs and GVs. DIAGNOSIS OF EVS AND GVS: The grading system for esophagogastric varices proposed by the Japan Society for Portal Hypertension classifies GVs into those involving the cardia (Lg-c), the fundus (Lg-f), and both t...