Upper GI Bleed – Blood Vomitus or Black Stools - Dr. Pathik Parikh

 



Upper GI Bleed – Blood Vomitus or Black Stools

Cirrhosis is diffuse permanent damage to the liver. Once somebody develops cirrhosis, they are likely to face some or the other complications in upcoming 3-5 years. It is good to keep oneself aware about possible complications. One of the complications is gastrointestinal bleeding.

Hematemesis means vomiting of blood. Whenever a person has blood in his vomit, we call it as hematemesis. It is major and life-threatening complication of cirrhosis of the liver.

Reason for Blood in Vomit in cirrhosis

  1. Esophageal Varices
  2. Gastric Varices

Under normal circumstances, the blood that flows from spleen and the intestines enters a vessel known as portal vein and it in turn enters the liver for filtration. The blood from the liver enters the hepatic veins and from where it enters the heart and goes into the systemic circulation. However, when there is cirrhosis of the liver, this liver does not allow the blood to pass smoothly and it provides a resistance to the blood flow because of, which the pressure in the portal vein increases. The blood must reach the heart by an alternative route. In this circumstance as a result, few vessels around your food pipe, what we call as oesophagus, carries the blood from the portal vein into the heart. Now, the calibre of this vessel is quite small as compared to the portal vein.So, the blood, which is supposed to. pass from a large vessel when it passes through a small vessel, the pressure increases significantly. As a result, this starts bulging into the food pipe. Now, whenever somebody has fever and the pressure increases suddenly, or somebody takes a painkiller or a corrosive agent or sometimes even without any intake of any substance, just spontaneously, the pressure increases and because of which there is a rupture of this vessel into the food pipe. The patients vomit this blood out. It is a life-threatening condition. Unless it is urgently treated a patient may lose his life.

More information: https://www.drpathikparikh.com/upper-gi-bleed-blood-vomitus-or-black-stools/

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