title: Clinical scores for the prediction of esophageal varices in patients with liver cirrhosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Esophageal bleeding is one of the most important and dramatic complications of liver cirrhosis in our everyday practice. Considering the costs of repeated upper endoscopy (UE) there is an increasing number of studies focusing on noninvasive para-meters for the assessment of esophageal varices (EV).
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective study included 74 patients with alcoholic and viral liver cirrhosis treated at Clinic of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Clinical Center of Serbia. The data were obtained from patients medical records including history, biochemical, ultrasonography and UE findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average value of the RLLD/INR for patients who showed evidence of EV during UE and in those who didn't was 10.46 ± 3.09 and 12.24 ± 3.43, respectively (p = 0.019, p < 0.05). Cutoff value (11.5) of RLLD/INR showed a sensitivity of 64.15% and specificity of 66.67% (1.92LR+, and 0.54 LR-, AUROC 0.639) for the detection of EV. The average value of PC/SBD for patients who showed evidence of EV during UE and in those who didn't was 619.79 ± 492.96 and 1423.1 ± 908.2, respectively (p = 0.0, p < 0.05). The average value of RLLD/SA was 5.5 ± 0.17 and 4.57 ± 0.17 (p = 0.015, p < 0.05) for patients who showed evidence of EV -during UE and in those who didn't, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Noninvasive assessment of EV using scores based on ultrasonography and laboratory is simple, inexpensive, and could be a useful tool in limiting the number of repeated UE.
authors: M S
authors: MS
authors: Lalosevic
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Stojkovic
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Naumovic
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Culafic
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Stojanovic
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Stulic
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Alempijevic
authors: A P
authors: AP
authors: Markovic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004932:Esophageal and Gastric Varices / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019934:International Normalized Ratio; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D010976:Platelet Count; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012709:Serum Albumin; D013154:Spleen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D018616:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex
chemical_list: D012709:Serum Albumin