Purpose of Review
The goal of our review is to provide a better understanding of the anatomy of gastric varices (GV) and to provide guidance regarding the management of bleeding GV.
Recent Findings
Despite a paucity of head-to-head controlled data in this field, there remain no further advances in therapy. Alterations to previous techniques, such as combining EUS-guided metallic coil injection with cyanoacrylate injection or approaching endovascular therapies such as balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO) via different pathways, have been developed but not studied in a comparative manner.
Summary
The primary therapy of GV is endoscopic cyanoacrylate injection and new studies have confirmed prior data suggesting this is effective with low complication and re-bleeding rates. Similarly, endovascular procedures such as BRTO continue to show robust results but no large, controlled, head-to-head trials exist to compare different modalities of therapy. Herein, we review the current literature for the therapy of bleeding GV and voice a call to action for future research endeavors in this field.