[Noninvasive assessment of oesophageal varices presence and size in patients with liver cirrhosis using right liver lobe/serum albumin concentration].

OBJECTIVE

Liver cirrhosis is a chronic, progressive disease and it is usually accompanied by portal hypertension. The development of oesophageal varices (OV) is one of the major complications of portal hypertension. Cirrhotic patients should be screened for the presence of OV when portal hypertension is diagnozed. In order to reduce the increasing burden that endoscopy units have to bear, some studies have attempted to identify parameters for noninvasive prediction of OV presence. The aim of our study was to evaluate the value of biochemical and ultrasonography parameters for prediction of OV presence.

METHODS

This study included 58 cirrhotic patients who underwent a complete biochemical workup, ultrasonography examination and upper digestive endoscopy. Right liver lobe diameter/albumin ratio was calculated and its correlation to the presence and degree of OV, and Child-Pugh score of liver cirrhosis explored.

RESULTS

The mean age of the patients included in the study was 53.07+/-13.09 years; 40 were males and 18 females. In the Child-Pugh class A were 53.4% patients, class B 39.7%, whereas 6.9% were in the class C. In 24.1% of the patients no OV were identified by upper digestive endoscopy, 19% had OV grade I, 34.5% grade II, 20.7% grade III, and 1.7% OV grade IV. The mean value of the right liver lobe diameter/albumin ratio was 5.43+/-1.79 (range of 2.76-11.44). Statistically significant correlation (p < 0.01) was confirm by Spearman's test between OV grade and calculated index (p = 0.441).

CONCLUSIONS

The right liver lobe diameter/albumin ratio is a noninvasive parameter which provides an accurate information pertinent to the determination of OV presence and their grading in patients with liver cirrhosis.