What are the symptoms and causes of esophageal varices?

Esophageal varies is caused by any condition that can cause portal hypertension such as cirrhosis.
The lower one third of the esophagus is drained into the superficial veins lining the esophageal mucosa, which drain into the left gastric vein which in turn drains directly into the portal vein .

In case of portal hypertension, blood flows back to the left gastric vein and then into superficial veins in the esophageal mucosa, this leads to extremely dilated sub-mucosal veins that can bleed.
The most common symptom of esophageal varies is bleeding.

A pair of scissors -when the client has a sengstaken-blakemore tube, a pair of scissors must be kept at the clients bedside at all times. the client needs to be observed for sudden respiratory distress, which occurs if the gastric balloon ruptures and the entire tube moves upward. if this occurs, the nurse immediately cuts all balloon lumens and removes the tube. an obturator and a kelly clamp are kept at the bedside of a client with a tracheostomy. an irrigation set may be kept at the bedside, but it is not the priority item.