Development and Validation of an Noninvasive Model for Predicting High Risk Esophageal Varices in Cirrhosis

Development and Validation of an Noninvasive Model for Predicting High Risk Esophageal Varices in Cirrhosis

The aim of the study is to develop and validate a new noninvasive method based on routine examination during clinical practice for predicting high risk esophageal varices in cirrhosis.

Portal hypertension is the main consequence of cirrhosis. Variceal bleeding is the principal and life-threatening complication of portal hypertension. Endoscopic screening is the golden standard to detect esophageal varices. However, endoscopy is limited by its invasiveness, cost and the discomfort it imposes on patients. With the goal of circumventing these disadvantages, we intend to develop an noninvasive method for predicting high risk esophageal varices.

The inclusion criteria:

1. patients who were diagnosed with liver cirrhosis.
2. patients who underwent the abdominal contrast-enhanced CT examination.
3. patients who received endoscopic screening.
4. patients with written informed consent.

The exclusion criteria:

1. patients who previously underwent endoscopic therapy, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS), splenectomy, partial splenic embolization (PSE), hepatectomy, balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration, or liver transplantation.
2. patients with liver cancer.
3. patients with severe ascites or hepatic encephalopathy.
4. lacks abdominal contrast-enhanced CT within 1 month of endoscopy.