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©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 14, 2017; 23(26): 4806-4814
Published online Jul 14, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i26.4806
Published online Jul 14, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i26.4806
Predictors of esophageal varices and first variceal bleeding in liver cirrhosis patients
Bledar Kraja, Iris Mone, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, 1001 Tirana, Albania
Bledar Kraja, Adea Koçollari, Skerdi Prifti, University Clinic of Gastrohepatology, University Hospital Center Mother Teresa, 1001 Tirana, Albania
Iris Mone, Department of Laboratory, University Hospital Center Mother Teresa, 1001 Tirana, Albania
Ilir Akshija, Department of Statistics, University Hospital Center Mother Teresa, 1001 Tirana, Albania
Genc Burazeri, Department Department of International Health, School CAPHRI, Care and Public Health Research Institute, Maastricht University, 6200 Maastricht, the Netherlands
Author contributions: Kraja B, Mone I, Prifti S and Burazeri G contributed to the study conceptualization and design, analysis and interpretation of the data and writing of the article; Akshija I and Koçollari A commented comprehensively on the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the submitted manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors have declared any conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Bledar Kraja, MD, PhD, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Dibra Street 371, 1001 Tirana, Albania. bledarkraja@yahoo.com
Telephone: +355-67-2058760
Received: February 26, 2017
Peer-review started: February 28, 2017
First decision: April 7, 2017
Revised: April 23, 2017
Accepted: June 1, 2017
Article in press: June 1, 2017
Published online: July 14, 2017
Peer-review started: February 28, 2017
First decision: April 7, 2017
Revised: April 23, 2017
Accepted: June 1, 2017
Article in press: June 1, 2017
Published online: July 14, 2017
Core Tip
Core tip: Non-invasive markers of liver fibrosis constitute a simple and practical alternative to predict the presence of esophageal varices in cirrhotic patients. However, no single or a combination of non-invasive markers has been widely evaluated for predicting the variceal bleeding, to date. Our findings from a study conducted in Albania indicate that, despite the low diagnostic accuracy, fibrosis-4-index appears the most efficient non-invasive marker which can be used as an initial screening tool for cirrhotic patients in the areas with lacking endoscopy facilities. Yet, none of the non-invasive markers was a useful predictor of esophageal variceal bleeding in Albanian cirrhotic patients.