title: Less-invasive MR indices of clinically evident esophageal variceal bleeding in biliary atresia patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Esophageal variceal hemorrhaging is potentially life threatening for long-term survivors of biliary atresia. We evaluated the feasibility of less-invasive parameters for predicting the presence of clinically significant esophageal variceal bleeding in biliary atresia patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 30 patients aged 108-5314 days (median = 285 days) with biliary atresia underwent a magnetic resonance examination with fast spin-echo T2-weighted imaging and spin-echo, T1-weighted images with fat saturation after use of a contrast medium on a 1.5-tesla scanner. The splenic length-platelet ratio was divided by the each patient's body height (m) to produce the corrected splenic length-platelet ratios. In addition, the splenic volume index-to-platelet count ratio was divided by the patient's body weight (kg) to produce a corrected ratio.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The corrected splenic length-platelet ratio was more significantly increased in 21 patients with esophageal variceal bleeding (Group A) than in nine patients without variceal bleeding [(Group B) 0.98 ± 0.64 vs. 0.44 ± 0.18, p < 0.01]. The splenic volume index-to-platelet count ratio corrected by body weight was significantly larger in Group A (510.7 ± 536.2) than in Group B (148.1 ± 88.9, p < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Less-invasive indices, including the corrected splenic length platelet ratio and the splenic volume index-to-platelet count ratio, may be valuable predictors of esophageal variceal bleeding in patients with biliary atresia.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering and College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yuan Heng
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.forename: Huey-Ling
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wen-Ming
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Steven Shinn-Forng
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Peng
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001656:Biliary Atresia / Q000150:complications*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003287:Contrast Media; D058625:End Stage Liver Disease / Q000150:complications*; D004932:Esophageal and Gastric Varices / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010976:Platelet Count; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013154:Spleen / Q000473:pathology*; D017741:Survivors
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media