[The etiology of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with liver cirrhosis].

108 patients suffering from the cirrhosis of the liver and acute bleeding into the upper digestive tract underwent a prospective endoscopic examination with diagnostic and therapeutic objectives. The most frequent causes of acute bleeding included oesophagus varices (57.4%) followed by peptic gastric ulcer (13.9%) and peptic ulcer of duodenum (11.1%), then portal hypertension gastropathy (5.6%), gastric varices (4.6%), reflux oesophagitis (2.8%), Mallory-Weiss syndrom (2.8%) and erosive gastropathy (0.9%). The endoscopy of the upper digestive tract in one patient resulted in negative diagnosis. 69% of examinations showed multiple findings in the upper digestive tract, each of which could have been a potential cause of bleeding. To determine the source of bleeding the specialist's attitude presented at the end of the endoscopic examination was taken into consideration. In 67.6% of patients the bleeding was a direct consequence of portal hypertension, in 62% it was caused by varices. The emphasis is put on early and thorough endoscopic examinations aimed at proper diagnosis and therapy.