Endoscopic measurement of gastric mucosal blood flow with special reference to the effect of sclerotherapy in patients with liver cirrhosis

Gastric mucosal blood flow plays an important role as a background factor in the pathogenesis of acute gastric mucosal lesion. In this study, endoscopic measurement of regional gastric mucosal blood flow was performed on 41 patients with esophageal varices due to liver cirrhosis to ascertain the possible relations of this parameter to liver function, portal pressure, and acute gastric mucosal lesion. The effect of sclerotherapy and of esophageal transection on gastric mucosal blood flow were also investigated. Regional gastric mucosal blood flow in either the antrum or the corpus was significantly decreased in these patients, compared with normal controls. There was also a significant difference in gastric mucosal blood flow between two subgroups of patients, one with gastric mucosal lesions and the other without these lesions. Sclerosing therapy for esophageal varices tended to affect this parameter. Gastric mucosal blood flow had no significant correlation with portal pressure.