title: The Role of Medical Therapy for Variceal Bleeding.
abstract: Acute variceal hemorrhage (AVH) is a lethal complication of portal hypertension and should be suspected in every patient with liver cirrhosis who presents with upper gastrointestinal bleed. AVH-related mortality has decreased in the last few decades from 40% to 15%-20% due to advances in the general and specific management of variceal hemorrhage. This review summarizes current management of AVH and prevention of recurrent hemorrhage with a focus on pharmacologic therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University, 330 Cedar St, Boardman 110 P.O. Box 208056, New Haven, CT 06520-8056, USA; Section of Hospital Medicine, Yale-New Haven Hospital, 20 York Street, CB-2041, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Abdul Q
authors.initials: AQ
authors.lastname: Bhutta
authors.affiliation: Section of Digestive Diseases, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St, 1080 LMP, P.O. Box 208019, New Haven, CT 06520-8019, USA; Section of Digestive Diseases, VA-CT Healthcare System, 950 Campbell Avenue, West Haven, CT 06516, USA. Electronic address: guadalupe.garcia-tsao@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Guadalupe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garcia-Tsao
mesh_terms: D019468:Disease Management; D004932:Esophageal and Gastric Varices / Q000150:complications*; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents
keywords: Cirrhosis; Drug therapy; Nonselective β-blockers; Octreotide; Pharmacologic bases; Somatostatin; Terlipressin; Variceal hemorrhage