Bleeding Esophageal Varices with Polycystic Liver

THE purpose of this report is to present the case histories of 3 siblings with polycystic disease of the liver and kidneys whose presenting complaint was upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. We have been unable to find reports of similar histories in the literature.Symptoms pointing to the liver are conspicuously absent in patients with polycystic liver, except for a sense of weight or pain in the abdomen. The nodular hepatomegaly of cystic disease does not produce the usual clinical features of cirrhosis, — that is, splenomegaly, ascites and esophageal varices, — and, typically, hepatic-function tests in patients with polycystic liver are . . .