Multi-Detector Computed Tomography in Diagnosis of Esophageal and Fundal Varices in Cirrhotic Patients

Abstract

Background: Esophageal varices is one of the most common complication of liver cirrhosis, which lead to hematemesis with high morbidity and mortality rates. this study aimed to assess the role of triphasic computed tomography (CT) scan in detection and grading of esophageal varices (EV) and gastric varices (GV) compared to endoscopy. Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 35 patients (26 male & 9 female) who had cirrhosis. All patients were referred to perform triphasic abdominal CT scan then upper gastro-intestinal (UGI) endoscopy. Results: We have noticed that there is only 1 patient had oesophageal varices confirmed by UGI endoscopy not seen in CT. while there were 15 patients confirmed by endoscopy and CT. There is only 1 patient had gastric varix confirmed by UGI endoscopy not seen in CT. while there were 8 patients confirmed by endoscopy and CT. CT has 88.9 sensitivity comparing to endoscopy and 100 specificity with 97.14 accuracy with highly significant p value (p < 0.05). CT detected 8 positive cases of gastric varices and one negative case while EGD detected 9 positive cases. So CT has 88.9 sensitivity comparing to endoscopy and 100 specificity with 97.14 accuracy with highly significant p value (p < 0.05). Conclusion: CT scan could be used as independent method for diagnosis of gastric and esophageal varices.