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World J Hepatol. Feb 27, 2023; 15(2): 216-224
Published online Feb 27, 2023. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v15.i2.216
Sonographic gallbladder wall thickness measurement and the prediction of esophageal varices among cirrhotics
Mohamed H Emara, Mariam Zaghloul, Ibrahim F Amer, Aya M Mahros, Mohammed Hussien Ahmed, Mahmoud A Elkerdawy, Eslam Elshenawy, Abdelrahman M Ahmed Rasheda, Tarik I Zaher, Mona Talaat Haseeb, Emad Hassan Emara, Hassan Elbatae
Mohamed H Emara, Mariam Zaghloul, Ibrahim F Amer, Aya M Mahros, Mohammed Hussien Ahmed, Mahmoud A Elkerdawy, Eslam Elshenawy, Hassan Elbatae, Department of Hepatology, Gastroenterology and Infectious Diseases, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr-Elshikh 33516, Egypt
Abdelrahman M Ahmed Rasheda, Department of Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology Unit, Security Forces Hospital, Riyadh 11481, Saudi Arabia
Tarik I Zaher, Tropical Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt
Mona Talaat Haseeb, Emad Hassan Emara, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr-Elshikh 33516, Egypt
Author contributions: Emara MH, Zaghloul M, Ahmed MH, Mahros AM, Zaher TI, Elbatae H, and Emara EH searched the literature; Emara MH, Zaghloul M, Ahmed MH, Amer IF, Rasheda AMA, and Elkerdawy MA retrieved the evidence; Emara MH, Zaghloul M, Ahmed MH, Elshenawy E, and Haseeb MT analyzed the evidence; Emara MH, and Zaghloul M wrote the article draft; All authors revised the article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report having no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
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: Mohamed H Emara, MD, MSc, Professor, Department of Hepatology, Gastroenterology and Infectious Diseases, Kafrelsheikh University, Algeish Street, Kafr-Elshikh 33516, Egypt. emara_20007@yahoo.com
Received: November 13, 2022
Peer-review started: November 13, 2022
First decision: December 14, 2022
Revised: December 25, 2022
Accepted: January 31, 2023
Article in press: January 31, 2023
Published online: February 27, 2023
Processing time: 103 Days and 0.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Ruptured varices is a medical emergency and is associated with high mortality. Hence, it was recommended by the current practice guidelines to screen cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension for the presence of varices and eradicate the risky varices early. However, many issues exist with this policy. This directed the clinicians to search for non-invasive assessment tools aiming to refer only indicated cases for endoscopic examination. Among the promising tools is sonographic measurement of gallbladder wall thickness that was found related not only with the presence of esophageal varices but also with the degree of varices and portal hypertensive gastropathy.