Endoscopic findings of bleeding esophageal varices and experimental study

It has been considered that the rupture of esophageal varices occurs with high incidences, and once bleeding occurs it sometimes cause fetal massive bleeding. However, from our experiences with the active application of emergency endoscopy, the incidence of bleeding from varix was unexpectedly low. From these results, we studied the rupture signs of esophageal varices in experiments on dogs and clinical cases. The actual rupture signs of varices were summarized as active bleeding, adhesion of fresh clot, mucosal protrusion in a conical shape and white discoloration of its top area and mucosal slight elevation and attachment of fibrin thrombi. Further studies, however, are required to determine whether there are any varicose bleedings which do not show the above rupture signs.