Noninvasive Laboratory Markers as A Predictor of Esophageal Varices in Egyptian Cirrhotic Patients

Abstract

Esophageal varices are one of the main complications of liver cirrhosis. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is the gold standard for the detection of esophageal varices. However, this is invasive and costly. The purpose of this study was to assess the predictive values of the noninvasive tests in detecting the presence of OV, so this study aimed to determine the role of Combined albumin-bilirubin grade and platelets (ALBI-PLT score), albumin-bilirubin score (ALBI) and Pugh (CP) Score as non -invasive markers in the prediction of esophageal varices and its grading in cirrhotic patients. This cross-sectional study was carried out at Hepatology, Gastroenterology and Infectious Diseases department, Benha University Hospital and at Kafr El- Shiekh Liver Research center, Egypt including 240 patients with liver cirrhosis randomly selected presenting for screening for esophageal varices. All subjects were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination and laboratory inv investigations including CBC, liver and renal function tests and Calculation of albumin-bilirubin score (ALBI), combined albumin-bilirubin grade and platelets (ALBI-PLT) and Pugh (CP) Score. Then Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy done by expert endoscopist to detect the presence or absence of esophageal varices, sites of varices, grades of varices. ALBI, ALBI-PLT, Child-Pugh (CP) Score are good predictors for presence of esophageal varices and its size . Combined albumin-bilirubin grade and platelets (ALBI-PLT) could be used as a non-invasive predictor of presence of esophageal varices which may help in reducing unnecessary endoscopies .