Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Nov 27, 2023; 15(11): 1250-1252
Published online Nov 27, 2023. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v15.i11.1250
Letter to editor ‘Non-invasive model for predicting high-risk esophageal varices based on liver and spleen stiffness’
Xin Gao, Xiao-Yan Guo, Long-Bao Yang, Zhong-Cao Wei, Pan Zhang, Ya-Tao Wang, Chen-Yu Liu, Dan-Yang Zhang, Yan Wang
Xin Gao, Xiao-Yan Guo, Long-Bao Yang, Zhong-Cao Wei, Pan Zhang, Ya-Tao Wang, Chen-Yu Liu, Dan-Yang Zhang, Yan Wang, Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Gao X contributed to this work; Guo XY, Wei ZC, Liu CY wrote this letter; Yang LB, Zhang P, Zhang DY edited this letter, and Wang YT and Wang Y revised this letter.
Supported by the Shaanxi Provincial Key Research and Development Plan, No. 2020SF-159.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yan Wang, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, No. 157 of Xiwu Road, Xi'an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China. sarrye@163.com
Received: October 7, 2023
Peer-review started: October 7, 2023
First decision: October 12, 2023
Revised: October 25, 2023
Accepted: November 13, 2023
Article in press: November 13, 2023
Published online: November 27, 2023
Processing time: 47 Days and 14.5 Hours
Abstract

This letter to the editor relates to the study entitled "Non-invasive model for predicting high-risk esophageal varices based on liver and spleen stiffness". Acute bleeding caused by esophageal varices is a life-threatening complication in patients with liver cirrhosis. Due to the discomfort, contraindications, and associated complications of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy screening, it is crucial to identify an imaging-based non-invasive model for predicting high-risk esophageal varices in patients with cirrhosis.

Keywords: Cirrhosis; High-risk esophageal varices; Non-invasive prediction model; Spleen stiffness measurement; Liver stiffness measurement; Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy

Core Tip: Liver cirrhosis is the end of chronic liver disease. Rupture of esophageal varices (EVs) is a common and potentially fatal complication in patients with cirrhosis. In clinical practice, prophylactic treatment is primarily used to prevent events of esophageal venous bleeding, however, this strategy requires invasive and expensive upper gastrointestinal endoscopy testing, leading to poor patient adherence. In recent years, several studies have demonstrated an association between EVs and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) as well as spleen stiffness measurement (SSM). The main objectives of this paper are to elucidate the differences between EVs, SSM, and LSM and explore the feasibility of using LSM and SSM to develop a non-invasive model for predicting high-risk esophageal varices.