Esophageal Stenting As Bridge Therapy To Direct Intrahepatic Portocaval Shunt For Refractory Variceal Bleeding

Variceal bleeding is the most severe complication of portal hypertension in patients with cirrhosis. Management of refractory variceal bleeding is a challenging but commonplace scenario, in which usual endoscopic therapies including variceal ligation and/or sclerotherapy are unsuccessful in controlling the bleed. Portosystemic shunt creation is one effective treatment in prevention of treatment failure and rebleeding. We present a unique case of refractory esophageal varices in which an esophageal stent was placed as a temporizing measure to stop bleeding prior to creation of an alternative portosystemic shunt.