Upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with esophageal varices. What is the most common source?

The course of portal hypertension often is complicated by variceal bleeding, which tends to be massive and has a poor prognosis. In contrast to previous reports, this study of 299 episodes of gastrointestinal bleeding found that among patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding in whom varices are seen endoscopically, the varices are the cause of bleeding in the great majority.