Clinical, Endoscopic and Ultrasonographic Doppler Study on Portal Hypertensive Gastrointestinal Tract Vasculopathy in Egyptian Cirrhotic Patients

Abstract

This study was conducted to describe the different patterns of portal hypertensive vasculopathy in the gastrointestinal tract detected by upper and lower endoscopies, and to correlate these findings with clinical, laboratory, and ultrasonographic Doppler findings in these patients. Two hundred patients were recruited in this study, at tropical medicine department Ain shams university hospital, and Ahmed Maher teaching hospital. All patients have undergone upper endoscopy, and all the portal hypertensive vasculopathy findings were documented. For ethical reasons, colonoscopy was done for only 41 patients with a clear indication for colonoscopy. The colonoscopic findings in those patients were documented. Correlations between all endoscopic findings and other clinical and ultrasonographic findings were done and statistically analyzed. Different Doppler indices were measured in all patients. A significant statistical difference was found between cases with large EV, and those with no or small EV, regarding all these indices. A similar highly significant statistical difference was found between cases with severe PHG, and cases with no or mild PHG. CI, portal hypertension index, PVV, and m