background:Bleeding esophageal varices (BEV) is a life-threatening complications of liver cirrhosis resulting from portal hypertension. Studies using transient elastography to measure liver stiffness (LS) and spleen stiffness (SS) have reported acceptable diagnostic performance in detecting clinically significant portal hypertension and predicting the presence and degree of Varices.
Aim: The aim of our study was to investigate the role of spleen and liver stiffness in predicting the degree and bleeding risk of esophageal varices in cirrhotic patients.
Subjects and methods: 50 patients with established liver cirrhosis were enrolled in this study. All patients were assessed by history taking, clinical examination, laboratory investigations, child Paugh score calculation, pelvi abdominal ultrasound, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, transient elastography for measurement of LS and SS. Results: There was a statistical significant difference as regards platelet count, serum bilirubin, serum albumin, INR, child score, splenomegaly, LS and SS between variceal and non variceal group and among patients with different grades of varices (p < 0.05). splenic stiffness measurement (SSM) is better than liver stiffness measurement (LSM) for predicting presence and degree of EVs in cirrhotic patients. Conclusion: LS and SS are valuable non-invasive parameters for prediction of EVs in patients with liver cirrhosis. SS measurement is considered to be an optimal method to use in clinical practice, for screening of cirrhotic patients for EVs and diagnosing high-risk EVs.
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