Life-threatening bleeding from ileal conduit venous varices in a patient with portal hypertension

Life-threatening bleeding from portosystemic varices is a feared complication of portal hypertension. Particularly, varices in atypical locations-so-called ectopic varices-pose a challenge for diagnosis and therapy. In the present article, we describe the case of a patient with liver cirrhosis and recurrent bleeding from an ileal conduit resulting from peristomal varicosis. The difficult and hence delayed diagnosis led to a life-threatening hemorrhage that was successfully treated with interventional radiological variceal embolization and TIPS (transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt) implantation.