Approximately half of patients with advanced liver disease have varicose veins in the oesophagus and stomach, and a more than a fifth of them experience bleeding from these varices into the digestive tract. This is a life-threatening complication that contributes significantly to the still high mortality rate in cirrhosis. An international research team led by Lorenz Balcar and Mattias Mandorfer from MedUni Vienna improved the system for stratifying the mortality risk of variceal bleeding. They were able to identify a previously undefined group of patients for whom the use of liver stents to relieve portal vein hypertension could be indicated. The research was recently published in the renowned Journal of Hepatology.
Varicose veins in the oesophagus and stomach are caused by increased pressure in the portal vein, mainly due to cirrhosis. As a result of liver scarring, the flow of portal venous blood trough the liver vein is impeded, so that bypass circuits such as varicose veins (varices) form. Internal bleeding from these varices into the digestive tract is life-threatening, but in the vast majority of cases can be stopped, at least initially, by…
