RESUMO
Background: It is necessity to work more on non-invasive markers like right liver lobe size/albumin concentration ratio for predicting esophageal varices. We aimed to see the right liver lobe/albumin ratio in identifying esophageal varices among patients with cirrhosis caused by hepatitis B and C
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among all indoor patients admitted to the Department of Internal Medicine, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, General Hospital, Sector H-11/4 Islamabad, Pakistan, during May-December 2016. A non-probability purposive sampling technique was used for data collection. Diagnosed cases of cirrhosis caused by hepatitis B and C virus infection aged 25 years or more were included. A pre-designed questionnaire was used for data collection. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software version 20
Results: A total number of 160 patients were included. Mean +/- SD age was 56.04 +/- 10.22 years, while 96 [60%] were men. Child-Turcotte-Pugh grades showed 41.88% of the patients with grade A, followed by grade B [38.12%], and grade C [20%]. Esophageal varices were observed in 76.25% of the patients. The sensitivity was 86.89%, while specificity was 78.95%. The positive predictive value was 92.98% [95% confidence interval [CI] = 86.64% - 96.91%] and negative predictive value was 65.22% [CI = 49.75% - 78.64%] with a diagnostic accuracy of 85%
Conclusion: The use of the studied non-invasive markers of portal hypertension particularly the right liver lobe size/albumin concentration ratio, can help physicians to restrict the use of endoscopic screening only to patients presenting a high probability of esophageal varices