Endoscopic non-aggressive assessment of oesophageal variceal pressure compared with wedged hepatic venous pressure in alcoholic liver cirrhosis.

Ten alcoholic cirrhotic patients presenting with oesophageal varices underwent simultaneous measurement of wedged hepatic venous pressure and endoscopic variceal pressure. The latter was obtained by means of a pneumatic pressure gauge fixed to the tip of a gastrofibroscope. The correlation between these two parameters was highly significant.