Olevskaya ER, Dolgushina AI, Garbuzenko DV, Khikhlova AO, Saenko AA, Khusainova GM, Kuznetsova AS. Role of endoscopy in the diagnosis and treatment of gastric mucosal lesions in liver cirrhosis patients. World J Gastrointest Endosc 2025; 17(9): 108787 [DOI: 10.4253/wjge.v17.i9.108787]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dmitry V Garbuzenko, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Faculty Surgery, South Ural State Medical University, 64 Vorovskogo Street, Chelyabinsk 454092, Russia. garb@inbox.ru
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Endosc. Sep 16, 2025; 17(9): 108787 Published online Sep 16, 2025. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v17.i9.108787
Role of endoscopy in the diagnosis and treatment of gastric mucosal lesions in liver cirrhosis patients
Elena R Olevskaya, Anastasia I Dolgushina, Dmitry V Garbuzenko, Alina O Khikhlova, Anna A Saenko, Guzel M Khusainova, Alla S Kuznetsova
Elena R Olevskaya, Alina O Khikhlova, Department of Hospital Surgery, South Ural State Medical University, Chelyabinsk 454092, Russia
Anastasia I Dolgushina, Anna A Saenko, Guzel M Khusainova, Alla S Kuznetsova, Department of Hospital Therapy, South Ural State Medical University, Chelyabinsk 454092, Russia
Dmitry V Garbuzenko, Department of Faculty Surgery, South Ural State Medical University, Chelyabinsk 454092, Russia
Author contributions: Olevskaya ER contributed to conception; Olevskaya ER and Dolgushina AI contributed to design; Dolgushina AI and Garbuzenko DV approved the final version; Olevskaya ER, Garbuzenko DV, and Khikhlova AO wrote the manuscript; Dolgushina AI, Olevskaya ER, Garbuzenko DV, Khikhlova AO, Saenko AA, Khusainova GM, and Kuznetsova AS contributed to analysis; Olevskaya ER, Garbuzenko DV, Khikhlova AO, Saenko AA, Khusainova GM, and Kuznetsova AS contributed to acquisition, and interpretation of data.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dmitry V Garbuzenko, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Faculty Surgery, South Ural State Medical University, 64 Vorovskogo Street, Chelyabinsk 454092, Russia. garb@inbox.ru
Received: April 23, 2025 Revised: May 22, 2025 Accepted: August 19, 2025 Published online: September 16, 2025 Processing time: 142 Days and 13.7 Hours
Abstract
Liver cirrhosis (LC) can cause a wide spectrum of gastric mucosal lesions, the main diagnostic method of which is esophagogastroduodenoscopy. In addition to gastric varices, portal hypertensive gastropathy, gastric antral vascular ectasia, portal hypertensive polyps, peptic ulcer disease can be detected. All of these leave LC patients susceptible to bleeding. If visual differential diagnosis is difficult, endoscopic ultrasound and new digital and optical endoscopic technologies such as magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band imaging may be useful. In many cases, endoscopic technologies are also the methods of choice for the treatment of gastric mucosal lesions in LC patients. In particular, argon plasma coagulation can be used for local treatment of portal hypertensive gastropathy bleeding, and argon plasma coagulation, radiofrequency ablation or endoscopic band ligation is recommended as the main method for local treatment of gastric antral vascular ectasia bleeding. Endoscopic therapy for peptic ulcer bleeding is carried out according to the current guidelines. Besides, endoscopic mucosal resection and endoscopic submucosal dissection may be used in LC patients for the treatment of early gastric cancer. The purpose of this review is to provide up–to-date information on the role of endoscopy in the diagnosis and treatment of gastric mucosal lesions in LC patients.
Core Tip: Liver cirrhosis (LC) can cause a wide spectrum of gastric mucosal lesions, the main diagnostic method of which is esophagogastroduodenoscopy. If visual differential diagnosis is difficult, endoscopic ultrasound and new digital and optical endoscopic technologies such as magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band imaging may be useful. In many cases, endoscopic technologies are also the methods of choice for the treatment of gastric mucosal lesions in LC patients. The purpose of this review is to provide up–to-date information on the role of endoscopy in the diagnosis and treatment of gastric mucosal lesions in LC patients.
