Esophageal varices were observed at autopsy in 150 of 244 patients (61%) with liver cirrhosis. Of these patients, 100 (67%) had bled from their varices intra vitam. Approximately 80% of the patients who had once bled from their varices died in variceal bleeding, 25% as a result of their first bleeding. In every fourth patient who died in variceal bleeding, the bleeding was not diagnosed ante mortem. A marked difference in prognosis after the first bleeding was apparent when the patients were classified with respect to the liver function at the time of the first bleeding. The prognosis at the time of the first registered signs of liver cirrhosis was not worse for the patients with bleeding varices. In many respects the impairment in liver functions at death seemed less pronounced in the patients with bleeding esophageal varices.