Abstract
Bleeding from esophageal varices is one of the main complications of portal hypertension and cirrhosis of the liver. Until recently, endoscopic screening was recommended for all patients at the initial diagnosis of cirrhosis. Follow-up endoscopy was done every year in patients with small varices at diagnosis and every 2–3 years in patients with no varices at diagnosis of liver cirrhosis. Since these surveillance endoscopies are a cost factor and bear the (small) risk of procedure-related complications, attempts have been made to identify patients with cirrhosis and no varices at high risk of bleeding and needing treatment (VNT). The Baveno VI workshop defined criteria to identify patients with cirrhosis and no VNT. The Baveno VI criteria state that patients with a liver stiffness of below 20 kPa and a platelet count of more than 150,000/mm3 are at very low risk of having VNT. The chapter gives an overview of the available studies that validated the Baveno VI criteria. Furthermore, an overview of studies that tried to implement other non-invasive methods to identify patients without having VNT is given.
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Biecker, E. (2021). Diagnosis and Surveillance of Esophageal Varices in Liver Cirrhosis. In: Guo, X., Qi, X. (eds) Variceal Bleeding in Liver Cirrhosis. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7249-4_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7249-4_3
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