Is transient Elastography a valid screening method for esophageal varices?

Is Transient Elastography a Valid Screening Method for Esophageal Varices?

Gastroesophageal varices are a common complication of cirrhosis and are present in approximately 50% of patients with cirrhosis.[1] Acute gastroesophageal variceal hemorrhage is a severe complication of cirrhosis or portal hypertension associated with high mortality.[1‐3] Although mortality of gastroesophageal variceal hemorrhage has decreased in the past three decades, it remains the most comm...

Screening for Esophageal Varices

This is one of a series of statements discussing the utilization of gastrointestinal endoscopy in common clinical situations. The Standards of Practice Committee of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy prepared this text. A previous guideline related to this topic (Gastrointest Endosc 2002;56:618-20) was published in 2002. Since that time, new information has become available whi...

Transient elastography for predicting esophageal/gastric varices in children with biliary atresia

BACKGROUND Transient elastography (TE) is an innovative, noninvasive technique to assess liver fibrosis by measuring liver stiffness in patients with chronic liver diseases. The purpose of this study has been to explore the accuracy of TE and clinical parameters in predicting the presence of esophageal/gastric varices in children with biliary atresia (BA) following portoenterostomy. METHODS P...

Evaluation of large esophageal varices in cirrhotic patients by transient elastography: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Transient elastography (TE) has been shown to be a valuable tool for the prediction of large esophageal varices. However, the conclusions have not been always consistent throughout the different studies. Therefore, we performed a further meta-analysis in order to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of transient elastography for the prediction of large esophageal varices. M...

Ultrasound based techniques and transient elastography may not be precise methods for the detection of esophageal varices in liver cirrhosis.