Among the 1 326 cases of Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding (UGIB) who came to our Unit during the period of 7 years, 1975–1981 inclusive, the diagnosis of liver cirrhosis, mainly alcoholic, was made in 498 (37.5%) on clinical and/or histological grounds. 77% were men, and 30% were over 60 years old. Half of them developped encephalopathy during their stay in hospital. The source of bleeding was seen on emergency endoscopy in 260 patients. From these, 71% bled from oesophageal varices alone, 5% from oesophageal varices (OV) and other lesions and 24% from lesions away from the varices.

The source of bleeding could not be related to any clinical data, so factors of age, presence of encephalopathy or ascites were not useful predictors of the bleeding site. Endoscopy was the only reliable source of information.

Mortality was very high, 36.7%; 47.5% died in shock and 74.0% went into encephalopathy before death. The death rate could not be related with age, number of episodes of previous bleeding, source of bleeding or presence of other serious cardiac, pulmonary or renal diseases. However, mortality was significantly increased in patients with an active lesion at the time of endoscopy, and in patients who developped encephalopathy or ascites.