Ectopic varices: a potential cause of gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with portal hypertension.

ABSTRACT

A newly diagnosed 53-year-old woman with cirrhosis has repeated gastrointestinal bleeding with resulting symptomatic anaemia. She underwent routine diagnostic endoscopic evaluation without localisation of the aetiology of her bleed. Ultimately, she was found to have ectopic varices in the small bowel as a result of underlying high portal pressures. She underwent transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt for portal system decompression with resolution in her bleeding.