Why gastroscopy is needed for upper gastrointestinal bleeding in cirrhosis

  Bleeding from esophageal varices, which is common in patients with cirrhosis and chronic liver disease, can cause vomiting of blood and blood in the stool because the bleeding is often quite heavy and the mortality rate can be as high as 60%. The famous artist Chen Yifei died of cirrhosis combined with hemorrhage of esophagogastric varices.  Ruptured esophagogastric varices due to cirrhosis are the second most common cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (about 25%) and the most problematic of all upper gastrointestinal bleeding conditions. Cirrhosis is prone to portal hypertension due to obstructed venous return, which leads to esophagogastric fundic varices. Once the portal vein pressure increases significantly in a short period of time or an external force causes the vein to rupture, it can cause a major upper gastrointestinal bleeding. This kind of bleeding is fast and large, usually in the range of 1000-2000 ml, while a general gastric bleeding of 400 ml or more can be considered as “haemorrhage”. As a result, these patients often go into rapid hemorrhagic shock. Cirrhosis is also associated with decreased coagulation, which makes treatment even more difficult.  In the recently published 2007 edition of the American College of Hepatology guidelines for the treatment of cirrhosis combined with esophageal variceal bleeding, gastroscopic treatment is firstly recommended within 12 hours of the immediate administration of conventional medication and then gastroscopic venous ligation is recommended when cirrhosis combined with esophageal variceal bleeding. Gastroscopic vein ligation or sclerotherapy is also recommended, and when combined with variceal bleeding in the fundus, gastroscopic tissue gel injection is recommended.  The general public has great fear of gastroscopy when cirrhosis combined with esophageal variceal bleeding, thinking that gastroscopy may “stab the blood vessel”, so they often take it for granted and refuse timely gastroscopy, thus delaying the treatment and causing irreversible consequences. However, a large number of clinical practice has proved that bleeding due to gastroscopy alone hardly ever occurs. On the contrary, when cirrhosis is combined with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding, gastroscopy can accurately determine the site and cause of bleeding, immediately clarify whether there is active bleeding, and simultaneously perform gastroscopic hemostatic treatment.  Gastroscopic treatment mainly includes sclerotherapy, ligation therapy and tissue gel injection therapy, which are endoscopic interventional therapies implemented for patients with cirrhosis combined with ruptured esophagogastric fundic varices and bleeding. Gastroscopic sclerotherapy is to insert an injection needle to inject the corresponding sclerosing agent into the upper variceal vein of the gastric cardia under the condition that the esophageal vein is recorded by routine gastroscopy, so that the variceal vein becomes thrombosed and mechanized and active bleeding is stopped Gastroscopic ligature treatment is to apply a special ligature to the front end of the gastroscope, and to attract the varicose vein under direct vision and quickly release a high elasticity rubber band to ligate the attracted vessel.  This method causes immediate cessation of bleeding or oozing from the vein jet in the shortest possible time, vascular retraction, reduction in the degree of varicosity to disappearance, reduction in the number of bleeding episodes and avoidance of rebleeding in the near future. Tissue gel therapy is the injection of tissue biogel into the varicose vein, which has rapid coagulation characteristics and can be injected into the vessel to rapidly coagulate and occlude the vessel, mainly used for bleeding varicose veins in the fundus of the stomach.  Gastroscopy for patients with cirrhosis has the following benefits: 1. To understand whether the esophagogastric fundic varices are combined, and to determine the possibility of variceal bleeding.  2.For patients who are judged by gastroscopy to have the possibility of bleeding at any time for treatment can prevent the occurrence of the first bleeding.  3.For patients with acute bleeding, emergency hemostatic treatment can be performed, and through several consecutive treatments, varices can be eliminated and rebleeding can be prevented.  4.Patients with cirrhosis combined with esophagogastric fundic varices who suffer from bleeding can undergo gastroscopic treatment within 24-48 hours after the bleeding stops, which can effectively prevent re-bleeding and promote recovery from the complications of cirrhosis.  For this reason, patients with chronic liver disease should go to an experienced physician for gastroscopy in a timely and regular manner in order to determine scientifically and accurately whether there is a possibility of bleeding in the near future and to deal with it in a timely manner. In case of bleeding, gastroscopy and prompt microscopic treatment are the most sensible options for you.