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Clinical Features and Natural History of Variceal Hemorrhage

Implications for Surveillance and Screening

  • Chapter
Portal Hypertension

Part of the book series: Clinical Gastroenterology ((CG))

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Abstract

Variceal bleeding is is one of the more frequent and severe complications of cirrhosis. Mortality of a variceal bleeding episode has decreased in the last two decades from 40% to 20% owing to the implementation of effective treatments and i mprovement in general medical care. The management of variccs includes the screening and surveillance of cirrhotic patients to detect varices and its progression, which allows to establish effective prophylactic treatment, the treatment of the acute bleeding episode, and the prevention of variceal rebleeding. These should be based on the knowledge of the natural history and pathophysiology of variceal formation, progression, and rupture, which is the topic covered in this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Liver Unit, Institut de Malalties Digestives, Institut d’Investigacio Biomedica August Pi Sunyer, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Juan G. Abraldes MD & Jaime Bosch MD

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  1. Juan G. Abraldes MD
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  2. Jaime Bosch MD
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Gastroenterology, Virginia Commonwealth Medical Center, Richmond, VA

    Arun J. Sanyal MBBS, MD

  2. GI Research Unit, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

    Vijay H. Shah MD

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Abraldes, J.G., Bosch, J. (2005). Clinical Features and Natural History of Variceal Hemorrhage. In: Sanyal, A.J., Shah, V.H. (eds) Portal Hypertension. Clinical Gastroenterology. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-885-4_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-885-4_12

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