Since, in many patients with alcoholic liver disease and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage, varices and erosive gastritis frequently coexist, the purpose of this study was to assess the severity of hemorrhage, rebleeding and mortality rates when these lesions are present singly or concomitantly. In 104 patients not operated upon, 31 had both lesions present on endoscopic examination, and their clinical courses paralleled the severity of 29 patients who had bleeding varices as the sole finding. In 13 patients with alcoholic liver disease and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage who were found to have erosive gastritis as the sole lesion, the clinical course was as benign as in 31 patients with ethanol-induced gastritis without liver disease, and their blood loss, rebleeding and mortality rates were significantly less than in patients with both varices and gastritis. It is concluded that the course and prognosis of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage in patients with alcoholic liver disease and erosive gastritis is dependent upon the presence or absence of gastroesophageal varices.

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