Treatment of Bleeding from Portal Hypertension in Patients with Cirrhosis of the Liver

Abstract

THE greatest problem today in the management of patients who bleed massively from the upper gastrointestinal tract is afforded by the group with chronic liver disease and portal hypertension. Most of these patients bleed from varices at the gastroesophageal junction. The mortality in these patients is extremely high, in contrast to that in patients who bleed from gastroduodenal ulcer. A program of surgical intervention has been worked out for the ulcer group, and, when surgery is used with good judgment, the outlook is reasonably good for patients bleeding from gastric or duodenal ulcers. The same statement does not apply in . . .