Mamori S, Searashi Y, Matsushima M, Hashimoto K, Uetake S, Matsudaira H, Ito S, Nakajima H, Tajiri H. Serum type IV collagen level is predictive for esophageal varices in patients with severe alcoholic disease. World J Gastroenterol 2008; 14(13): 2044-2048 [PMID: 18395904 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.14.2044]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Satoshi Mamori, MD, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, the Jikei University School of Medicine, 3-25-8 Nishi-shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan. mamori@jikei.ac.jp
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Rapid Communication
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Satoshi Mamori, Yasuyuki Searashi, Shinichiro Uetake, Hiroshi Matsudaira, Shuji Ito, Hisato Nakajima, Hisao Tajiri, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, the Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan
Masato Matsushima, Division of Clinical Research and development, the Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan
Kenichi Hashimoto, Tokyo Medical Center of Alcohol Related Disabilities, Tokyo 175-0091, Japan
Author contributions: Mamori S and Searashi Y contributed equally to this work; Mamori S designed research; Hashimoto K, Searashi Y, and Uetake S performed research; Mamori S, Matsushima M, Matsudaira H, and Ito S analyzed data; Mamori S wrote the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Satoshi Mamori, MD, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, the Jikei University School of Medicine, 3-25-8 Nishi-shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan. mamori@jikei.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-3-34331111-3201
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Received: November 30, 2007 Revised: January 28, 2008 Published online: April 7, 2008
Abstract
AIM: To determine factors predictive for esophageal varices in severe alcoholic disease (SAD).
METHODS: Abdominal ultrasonography (US) was performed on 444 patients suffering from alcoholism. Forty-four patients found to have splenomegaly and/or withering of the right liver lobe were defined as those with SAD. SAD patients were examined by upper gastrointestinal (UGI) endoscopy for the presence of esophageal varices. The existence of esophageal varices was then related to clinical variables.
RESULTS: Twenty-five patients (56.8%) had esophageal varices. A univariate analysis revealed a significant difference in age and type IV collagen levels between patients with and without esophageal varices. A logistic regression analysis identified type IV collagen as the only independent variable predictive for esophageal varices (P = 0.017). The area under the curve (AUC) for type IV collagen as determined by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) for predicting esophageal varices was 0.78.
CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the level of type IV collagen has a high diagnostic accuracy for the detection of esophageal varices in SAD.
