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Abstract Cirrhotic patients frequently undergo screening endoscopy for the presence of oesophageal varices despite that, fewer than 50% of cirrhotic patients have varices at screening endoscopy and most have small sized varices with low risk of bleeding .This represents a medical burden due to increasing number of patients with liver cirrhosis. The aim of the present study was to search for some biochemical, abdominal and duplex ultrasonographic parameters that might non-invasively predict the presence of oesophageal varices in patients with liver cirrhosis with analysis of the results in relation to endoscopic detection of varices and their grading. The study included 52 patients with liver cirrhosis (35 males & 17 females) with a mean age of 49±8 years. All were subjected to thorough clinical evaluation, a group of laboratory investigations including complete blood count with estimation of platelet count by direct method, liver and kidney function tests (AST, ALT, ALP, s.albumin, creatinine, bilirubin, PC & PT) and serum hyaluronic acid by ELISA. Abdominal and duplex ultrasonography was performed with measurement of splenic diameter, (PVD), (PVD), mean (PVV), (PVF) and (PVCI). Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed and it was the gold standard for oesophageal varices detection and grading. |