Clinical value of acoustic radiation force impulse in quantitative prediction of the degree of esophageal varices in patients with liver cirrhosis

Objective To investigate the clinical value of acoustic radiation force impulse ( ARFI) in quantitative prediction of the degree of esophageal varices in patients with cirrhotic portal hypertension. Methods A total of 116 patients with liver cirrhosis who were admitted to 302 Hospital of PLA from October 2014 to February 2016 were enrolled. ARFI was used to measure real-time liver and spleen stiffness for all patients. With the degree of esophageal varices determined by gastroscopy as the gold standard for diagnosis, these patients were divided into non-varices group ( EV0, 16 patients) , mild varices group ( EV1, 39 patients) , moderate varices group ( EV2, 26 patients) , and severe varices group ( EV3, 35 patients) . The receiver operating characteristic ( ROC) curve was used to analyze the clinical value of liver/spleen ARFI in predicting the degree of esophageal varices. An analysis of variance or the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison of continuous data between multiple groups, and the least significant difference Mann-Whitney U test was used for further comparison between any two groups; the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups. The Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation between the stiffness measured by ARFI and the degree of esophageal varices. Results The ARFI value of the spleen was 2. 54 ± 0. 34 m/s for EV0 patients, 3. 05 ± 0. 34 m/s for EV1 patients, 3. 48 ± 0. 50 m/s for EV2 patients, and 3. 69 ± 0. 33 m/s for EV3 patients ( χ2= 60. 121, P < 0. 001) . The ARFI value of the spleen was positively correlated with the grade of esophageal varices ( r =0. 713, P < 0. 001) . The areas under the ROC curve for the ARFI value of the spleen in the diagnosis of ≥EV1, ≥EV2, or EV3 esophageal varices were 0. 93, 0. 88, and 0. 83, respectively. There was no significant difference in the ARFI value of the liver between groups ( P =0. 085) , and the ARFI value of the liver was not correlated with the degree of esophageal varices ( P = 0. 245) . Conclusion The ARFI value of the spleen helps to achieve accurate quantitative prediction of the degree of esophageal varices in patients with cirrhotic portal hypertension and holds promise for clinical application.