Color Doppler Ultrasound and Transient Elestoghraphy as Predictors for Presence of Gastroesophageal Varices and Variceal Bleeding in Patients With Liver Cirrhosis

Liver cirrhosis incidence and prevalence have been increasing significantly over the years with varying evolutions of etiologies. It is a major cause of mortality and morbidity throughout the world, causing two million deaths per year worldwide (3.5% of all death) with 50% related to cirrhosis complications and 50% related to Hepatocellular Carcinoma and viral hepatitis infections.

Variceal bleeding is among leading causes of death in patients with liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension, In current clinical practice, evaluation of the risk of upper digestive tract bleeding is based on osephagogastroduodenoscopy. Although the occurrence of esophageal varices and the time of gastrointestinal bleeding in portal hypertension cannot be exactly predicted, there are some endoscopic and clinical signs associated with a high risk of bleeding: the size of the esophageal varices, the presence of cherry-red spots (red signs) Recent studies demonstrated that the severity of liver fibrosis, especially the presence of advanced fibrosis defined as stage F3 or F4 fibrosis, is the main driver of prognosis in cirrhosis and the main risk factor for developing not only liver-related events but also extrahepatic complications.

Liver stiffness measurement is a widely used non-invasive tool for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis and has high accuracy, and if combined with platelets count, it can be also used to identify patients at high risk for esophageal varices without the need for endoscopic screening.

Previous studies have demonstrated that liver stiffness can reflect the prognosis of patients with liver cirrhosis because it can indirectly reflect portal hypertension. Liver stiffness measured using transient elastography has been validated as a prognostic quantitative marker for the occurrence of liver-related complications, survival without liver-related death, and overall survival. However, LSM has not been well-verified in the esophageal variceal rebleeding, which is a critical event.

Recent studies indicate also that Doppler ultrasound findings of the portal system and hepatic artery could predict both the presence of varices and the risk of variceal bleeding in patient with portal hypertension and liver cirrhosis.