Abstract: Early prediction of bleeding in liver cirrhosis is very important. Conventional coagulation tests
are cheap and convenient, which are widely used to evaluate the coagulation function in liver cirrhosis.
However, except for bleeding tendency, recent evidence also suggested thrombotic tendency in liver cirrhosis.
Additionally, some studies demonstrated that conventional coagulation tests might not accurately reflect the
general status of coagulation and anticoagulation. The role of conventional coagulation tests in assessing
the bleeding in liver cirrhosis has been greatly challenged. This paper aims to review the coagulation and
anticoagulation abnormalities, the mechanisms of upper gastrointestinal bleeding and the association between
conventional coagulation tests and bleeding in patients with liver cirrhosis.