Noninvasive assessment of esophageal-gastric varices by spleen stiffness in liver cirrhosis patients / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the value of spleen stiffness measured by transient elastography (FibroScan,FS) for diagnosing esophageal-gastric varices in liver cirrhosis patients.Methods A total of 259 cirrhotic patients in Tianjin Third Central Hospital from Apr 2011 to Apr 2012,and 30 healthy controls were enrolled.All the patients and controls were evaluated for spleen and liver stiffness by FS and 201 cirrhotic patients also underwent gastroscopy for the diagnosis of esophageal-gastric varices.By using gastroscopy as the gold standard,the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of three parameters including spleen stiffness,liver stiffness and platelet/thickness of spleen were delineated for different disease stage.The areas under curves (AUC) were used to evaluate the value of these parameters in the diagnosis of esophageal-gastric varices.Results The spleen and liver stiffness values in cirrhotic patients were (44.64 ± 22.27) kPa and (24.27 ±18.89) kPa,respectively,while those in healthy controls were (20.94± 14.78) kPa and (6.12±5.77) kPa,respectively,which were both lower than cirrhotic patients (P＜0.05).The stiffness values of liver and spleen both increased with higher Child-Pugh scores.And the liver stiffness values were different among groups (F=0.068,P =0.000),while the spleen stiffness values in patients with Child-Pugh A and B were different from that in patients with Child-Pugh C (P＜0.05).In patients with moderate or serious esophageal-gastric varices,the spleen and liver stiffness values were significantly higher.The ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC of spleen stiffness,liver stiffness and platelet/thickness of spleen in the patients with moderate to serious esophageal-gastric varices were 0.918,0.749 and 0.743,respectively.The corresponding optimal cut-off values were 50.7 kPa,20.1 kPa and 1.65.The AUC,sensitivity and specificity of spleen stiffness were all higher than liver stiffness and platelet/thickness of spleen.Conclusion Spleen stiffness measured by transient elastography is a valuable parameter for non-invasive diagnosis of esophageal-gastric varices in cirrhotic patients.