Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: scintigraphy in the diagnosis of steatohepatitis.

Objective: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is the most prevalent cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is associated with increased mortality rates due to the liver and cardiovascular diseases. The gold standard for discriminating nonalcoholic fatty liver disease activity and staging is the anatomopathological examination, which is an invasive method.

PLATELET COUNT SQUARED/SPLEEN DIAMETER-ASPARTATE AMINOTRANSFERASE RATIO: NON-INVASIVE METHOD TO PREDICT ESOPHAGEAL VARICES.

Background: - Variceal bleeding has a high mortality among cirrhotics, and screening with endoscopy is indicated at the diagnosis of cirrhosis. Screening with endoscopy implies discomfort, risks and considerable costs.

Objective: - To evaluate platelet count squared/spleen diameter-aspartate aminotransferase ratio (PS/SA), as a non-invasive predictor of esophageal varices in cirrhotics.

Aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) for the non-invasive prediction of esophageal varices.

Background & Aims: Variceal bleeding is a dramatic and common complication of cirrhosis, and, therefore, endoscopy is recommended for the screening of EV (esophageal varices) in every cirrhotic. This study evaluates the capacity of APRI (aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index) in non-invasively predicting EV.

Material And Methods: This cross-sectional study evaluated cirrhotics for their APRI value and the presence of EV, with a cutoff point of 1, 3; platelet count, spleen diameter, PC/SD (platelet count/ spleen diameter ratio), aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase ratio, Child-Pugh score and MELD (model for end-stage liver disease) score were also studied.