title: Frequency of portal hypertensive gastropathy and its relationship with biochemical, haematological and endoscopic features in cirrhosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the frequency of portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG) and its relation with biochemical, haematological and endoscopic findings in cirrhotic patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional analytical study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, Medical Unit-III, Ward-7, from June 2009 to December 2010.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with diagnosis of cirrhosis and either undergoing screening upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy or presented with acute upper GI bleeding were included in the study. Portal hypertensive gastropathy and oesophageal varices were classified using Baveno scoring system. The severity of cirrhosis was classified according to the Child-Pugh criteria. Hypersplenism was assessed by the reduction of haemoglobin, leucocytes and platelets.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 217 patients, 148 were males (68.2%) and 69 were females (31.8%) with ages ranging from 15-85 years, (mean 48.06 years). There were 144 HCV +ve patients (66.4%), 36 HBV +ve patients (16.6%), 15 HCV/HBV co-infected patients (6.9%) and only 1 (0.5%) had co-infection of HBV/HDV. Twenty-one patients (9.7%) were classified as having cryptogenic cirrhosis. Out of 172 patients (79.27%), 56 patients (25.8%) had mild and 116 patients (53.5%) were suffering from severe PHG. Significant positive correlation was found between esophageal variceal grade and PHG (r=0.46, p < 0.001) but not with etiology (r=0.05, p=0.41) or hypersplenism (r=0.08, p=0.22).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The frequency of PHG was 79.27% in the studied group. The grade of oesophageal varices had significant relation with PHG that is the severity of PHG increased with the grade of oesophageal varices, suggesting common pathophysiology of both entities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Gastroenterology Section, Ward-7, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi. draman_ullah2000@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Amanullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abbasi
authors.forename: Abdul Rabb
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Bhutto
authors.forename: Nazish
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Butt
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Munir
authors.forename: Azizullah Khan
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Dhillo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004724:Endoscopy; D005260:Female; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D006975:Hypertension, Portal / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015994:Incidence; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013270:Stomach / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult