Prevalence of Portal Hypertensive Gastropathy in Chronic Upper GI Bleeding Presenting With Iron Deficiency Anemia in Cases of Advanced Liver Cirrhosis

Abstract

Objective: To demonstrate the prevalence of portal hypertensive gastropathy in patients with
advanced chronic liver disease presenting with iron deficiency anemia due to chronic upper GI
bleeding.
Methods: Portal hypertensive gastropathy is a well know clinical entity that is definitely
responsible for at least some cases of acute or chronic upper GI bleeding in patients with cirrhosis
of liver, but the true incidence is not known. Current study was conducted to find out the incidence
of PHG as a cause of chronic upper GI bleed in patients with liver cirrhosis presenting with gradual
development of iron deficiency anemia and positive fecal occult blood.
Results: Of the fifty patients selected for the study 22 were males and 28 were females. Upper
GI endoscopy done in these patients showed evidence of portal hypertensive gastropathy in 38
(21male; 17 female) [76 % (75%; 77% respectively)] had endoscopic evidence of PHG; while 44
(24male; 20female) [88 % (85%; 90% respectively) patients had different grades of esophageal
varices and all patients with PHG also had esophageal varices.
Conclusions: PHG is a common finding among patients with chronic upper GI bleed in patients
with portal hypertension due to cirrhosis of liver presenting with iron deficiency anemia.