Endoscopic Findings of the Upper Digestive Tract in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis Showing Hepatofugal Flow in the Splenic Vein

Abstract

We evaluated the association between flow of the splenic vein and endoscopic findings of the upper digestive tract. The subjects were 42 patients with liver cirrhosis complicated by esophageal varices in whom the clinical course were observed for 5 years. They were classified into the group who developed hepatofugal flow of the splenic vein during course (hepatofugal group) and that who did not (hepatopetal group) . Child classification, male-female ratio and average of the age before observation was similar between the two groups.
Changes in the endoscopic findings of gastroesophageal varices during the course were slighter in the hepatofugal group than the hepatopetal group. Significant differance was observed in changes of the gastric mucosal lesions in the two groups, i. e. the hepato-fugal group was not increased but the hepatopetal group was significantly increased (p<0.05) . The hepatofugal group was significantly higher incidence of the spleno-renal shunt than the other.