Correlation of Non-invasive Parameters with Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Findings for Presence and Grading of Gastroesophageal Varices in Liver Cirrhosis Patients

Overview

Journal J Family Med Prim Care

Specialty Public Health

Date 2024 Jun 3

PMID 38827664

Authors

Navgeet Mathur

Harsh Patel

Ravi Mangalia

Amit Mehta

Medha Mathur

Anjana Verma

Ashish Patyal

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Development of esophageal varices is one of the major complications of liver cirrhosis, and endoscopy is used to see the presence, grading, and long-term monitoring of esophageal varices which is an invasive and unpleasant procedure. There is no adequate data available showing noninvasive methods can be used for the same.

Methods: Seventy patients with liver cirrhosis participated in the study. Factors like portal vein diameter, spleen size, platelet count, serum bilirubin, Child-Pugh score, prothrombin time (PT), and PT INR were observed and correlated endoscopically with the presence and grading of esophageal varices in all patients.

Results: The platelet count, portal vein diameter, serum bilirubin, spleen bipolar diameter, and PT had statistically significant correlations with the presence of varices. Among them, platelet count, portal vein diameter, and serum bilirubin also had statistically significant correlations with the grading of varices. Monitoring of these noninvasive parameters can help in monitoring variceal growth.

Conclusions: Noninvasive parameters can be used effectively to predict the presence and grading of esophageal varices and at the same time keep the rate of undiagnosed varices acceptably low. By using noninvasive parameters, patients can be benefited by decreasing the requirement of repeated endoscopic evaluation which is an unpleasant procedure and availability is also limited.

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