Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate esophageal and gastric varices (EGV) by liver and splenic stiffness measurement (LSM and SSM) by elastography in patients with hepatitis B liver cirrhosis (LC). Methods A total of 166 patients with hepatitis B LC were included in our hospital from January 2016 to January 2020, and all of them underwent gastroscopy for EGV finding and FibroTouch for LSM and SSM. The EGV was defined as non-advanced and advanced one. The univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were performed to determine the independent predictors for advanced EGV. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn, and the area under ROC (AUC), sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were calculated. Results The gastroscopy showed the non-advanced EGV in 92 and advanced EGV in 74 patients with LC in our series; the percentages of Child-Pugh class A, class B and class C in patients with non-advanced EGV were 63.0%, 37.0% and 0.0%, significantly different compared to advanced EGV(40.5%, 40.5% and 18.0%,respectively, P<0.05); the incidence of ascites was 3.3%, significantly lower than 59.5%(P<0.05) in advanced EGV and serum albumin level was (34.1±5.6)g/L, significantly higher than , the INR was (1.1±0.4), much lower than [(1.4±0.6), P<0.05], the platelet count was (132.8±38.0)×10⁹/L, significantly higher than , the diameter of portal vain was (12.6±1.8)mm, much smaller than , the thickness of spleen was (100.4±14.6)mm, significantly smaller than , the LSM was (17.2±10.2) kPa, significantly lower than and the SSM was (26.6±9.1)kPa, much lower than in patients with advanced EGV; the multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the serum albumin level, INR, PLT count, diameter of portal vain and thickness of spleen, LSM and SSM were the independent factors for advanced EGV occurrence in patients with LC(P<0.05); when the LSM equal to 26.6 kPa and SSM to 43.2 kPa as the cut-off-value for combination diagnosis of advanced EGV, the AUC, sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 0.87, 83.5%, 91.8% and 89.6%.Conclusion FibroTouch detection of LSM and SSM in patients with hepatitis B-induced liver cirrhosis could effectively predict the occurrence of EGV, which needs further investigation.

Key words: Liver cirrhosis, FibroTouch, Esophageal and gastric varices, Liver stiffness measurement, Spleen stiffness measurement, Receiver operating characteristic curve, Diagnosis