Abstract
BackgroundThe prevention of portal hypertensive complications, including upper gastrointestinal bleeding, is critically important and achieved only through the use of upper endoscopy for the management of oesophageal gastric varices (EGVs). There is a paucity of data and limited utilization of non-invasive predictive parameters to guide the selection of patients who may benefit from endoscopic surveillance, especially in cirrhotic patients with coexistent portal vein thrombosis.ResultsThe study was conducted in eight hospitals in the western region of Saudi Arabia over the period of 2015-2017. Among 1349 chronic liver disease patients, eighty-five patients with complete endoscopic findings were included in the study. Twenty-eight patients were diagnosed with non-malignant PVT. Twenty-five patients (89%) developed oesophageal varices, compared with 57 patients with cirrhosis without PVT. A predictive factor for the development of oesophageal varices of statistical significance was hypoalbuminemia in PVT patients (p=0.04). No statistically significant differences were found in other biochemical markers (p<0.05) between the PVT and non-PVT groups.ConclusionsThe prevalence of oesophageal varices is increased in PVT patients. Serum albumin can be utilized as a predictor of varices development in cirrhosis patients.