الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract The human upper gastrointestinal tract is often infected with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). This urea splitting bacterium is now considered to be a causal agent in some diseases, including antral gastritis and frank duodenal ulceration, in addition to an association with gastric carcinoma and mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma.The discovery of these Helicobacter species, has raised the possibility of a relationship between Helicobacter infection and portal hypertensive gastropathy. Portal hypertensive gastropathy refers to changes in the mucosa of the stomach in patients with portal hypertension; by far the most common cause of this is cirrhosis of the liver. These changes in the mucosa include friability of the mucosa and the presence of ectatic blood vessels at the surface. Patients with portal hypertensive gastropathy may experience bleeding from the stomach, which may uncommonly manifest itself in vomiting blood or melena; however, portal hypertension may cause several other more common sources of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, such as esophageal varices and gastric varices. On endoscopy evaluation of the stomach, this condition shows a characteristic mosaic or ”snakeskin” appearance to the mucosa of the stomach It has been suggested that h. pylori infection increases the effect of portal hypertension on the stomach and worsen the portal hypertensive gastropathy state. |