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Updated: Mar 5, 2026

Underwater Endoscopic Injection Sclerotherapy for Gastroesophageal Varices
Published on: August 1, 2025
Is computerised tomography better than fibreoptic gastroscopy for early detection of gastric varices?
Burak Suvak1, Murat Kekilli2, Yavuz Beyazıt2
1Department of Gastroenterology, Medical Faculty, Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkey.
Introduction:
Video endoscopic diagnosis of gastric varices is particularly limited, owing to the deep submucosal or subserosal location of the varices and the normal appearance of the overlying mucosa.
Aim:
We present and emphasise the value of computerised tomography (CT) examination in the early detection of gastric varices (GVs).
Material And Methods:
In this retrospective study, a total of 216 consecutive patients with cirrhosis were evaluated at the Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital between September 2008 and March 2011.
Results:
One hundred and thirty patients with cirrhosis were enrolled in the study. The mean age of the male (88 cases) patients was 59.45 ±2.42 years, and the mean age of the female (42 cases) patients was 56.29 ±1.14 years. Computerised tomography identified oesophageal varices (EVs) in 103/130 patients, and endoscopy identified EVs in 103/130 patients. Computerised tomography identified GVs in 86/130 patients, and endoscopy identified GVs in 26/130 patients. After endoscopic elastic band ligation (EBL), CT identified GVs in 22/26 patients, and endoscopy identified GVs in 7/26 patients.
Conclusions:
Gastric varices lie in the submucosa, deeper than EVs, and distinguishing GVs from gastric rugae may be difficult with video endoscopy. This study demonstrated that CT is a sensitive method for early detection of GVs and has been used previously in the evaluation of GVs.
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