Published Paper Details:

Introduction: Portal hypertension and oesophageal varices in patients with chronic liver disease has serious clinical outcomes. Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the accuracy of non-invasive parameter such as liver stiffness (LS) measured by shear wave elastography to detect high risk oesophageal varices (EV) in patients with chronic liver disease. Methods: A total of 38 patients with chronic liver disease were enrolled in the study. All underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy to evaluate the presence and severity of oesophageal varices. The stiffness values of measured by shear wave elastography on Ultrasound was collected. The diagnostic performance of shear wave elastography for differentiating high risk varices from low-risk varices was evaluated by a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of liver stiffness was 0.98. Using a cut-off value of 11.2 kPa for liver stiffness to detect varices, the sensitivity was 85.7 %, specificity 100% and accuracy 91%. Conclusion: Liver stiffness measured on shear wave elastography have performed excellently to predict high risk oesophageal varices in patients with chronic liver disease and liver stiffness as a single marker had the best diagnostic value.