Mallory-Weiss syndrome. Modern tactical approaches

Mallory-Weiss syndrome amounts to 4-15% of the causes of gastrointestinal bleeding of the upper digestive tract. The number of relapses of MWS comes up to 20-30%, and the postoperative mortality amounts to 10-15% and the overall mortality is 1.8%. Over the last 10 years the number of Mallory-Weiss syndrome cases has increased from 14 up to 26.6% in the structure of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, moreover, accompanied by the increase of the rate of severe concomitant diseases (up to 91.5%). Selection of the method of hemostasis is determined by the state of syndrome, characteristics of the bleeding intensity, assessment of spontaneous hemostasis and prediction of bleeding relapse. Mallory-Weiss syndrome remains one of the most complex issues of surgery. In clinical practice, in addition to "typical" cases there are often cases of syndrome caused by previous diseases, instrumental examination of esophagus and adjacent organs and sometimes by the causes which are difficult to explain. The advanced study of the syndrome's etiopathogenesis, further development, especially of endoscopic haemostatic methods, will help to improve the results of treatment.