PORTAL HYPERTENSIVE GASTROPATHY IN CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE: PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATED FEATURES

Aims In terms of Portal hypertension, attention is being mostly focused on searching and treating esophageal and gastric varices. Portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG) is usually underappreciated. However, it can cause gastrointestinal bleeding. The aim of our study is to determine the prevalence of PHG and to study the clinical and endoscopic features of patients diagnosed with PHG.

Methods Between January2008 and December2021, a total of 200 patients had been diagnosed with cirrhosis in our center and were included. Clinical, biological and endoscopic data were retrospectively collected

Results Two hundred patients were included in this study. The mean age was 56.9±15 years. Sex ratio(M/F) was 0.79. Hepatitis B was the main etiology (n=60; 30%) followed by hepatitis C (n=32; 16%), nonalcoholic steato-hepatitis in 36 cases (18%), Primary biliary cholangitis in 21cases (10.5%), autoimmune hepatitis in 10 cases (5%),chronic alcolism in 9 cases (4.5%) and vascular diseases of the liver in 5 cases (2.5%).Cirrhosis was deemed cryptogenic in 27 (13.5%) patients. The overall prevalence of PHG in patients with cirrhosis was 71%: mild (28.8%), moderate(50%) and severe(21.1%). PHG was not significaly associated with age (p=0.81), gender (p=0.11), ascites (p=0.11), hepatic encephalopathy (p=0.51) or thrombocytopenia (p=0.49).Whereas, significant association was found between PHG and hypoalbuminemia<35g/l (73.9% vs 50%; p=0.01). Regarding severe PHG, a significant association was found only with male gender (87.5% vs 73.2%; p=0.013).

Conclusions In our study, the overall prevalence of PHG was 71%.Hypoalbuminemia was significantly more common in patients with gastroapthy. Importantly, the prevalence of severe PHG seems to be higher in male patients.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
14. April 2022