Focal gastric blood perfusion in relation with the endoscopic signs and liver function in cirrhotic patients.

Focal blood perfusion was measured, by means of a laser-Doppler technique, in the gastric upper body of 70 patients with liver cirrhosis and of 33 noncirrhotic controls. Perfusion was found to be lower in patients with pink mosaic-like pattern as compared to controls (p < 0.001). On the contrary, patients with red spots showed a marked increase of the focal gastric blood flow (p < 0.001). No different blood flow values were found between patients with red mosaic-like pattern and controls. Multiple regression showed that focal gastric blood flow perfusion was independently related to the Child score (p < 0.003), suggesting that gastric hemodynamic abnormalities can be favored by functional decompensation of cirrhosis, whereas there was no independent correlation with esophageal varices size, as assessed by their lumen occupancy percentage. Such observations may contribute to the understanding of the pathophysiology of gastric wall lesions in liver cirrhosis