Diagnostic accuracy of triphasic CT scan abdomen in the diagnosis of distal esophageal varices taking endoscopic findings as gold standard.

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of multidetector computed tomography in detection of esophageal varices in patients with hrpatic cirrhosis. Study Design: Cross Sectional study. Setting: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Kot Khawaja Saeed Teaching Hospital, Lahore. Period: January, 2021 to July, 2021. Material & Methods: Two hundred seventy five patients diagnosed with liver cirrhosis were included in our study. Multidetector CT of the abdomen was performed using multislice CT and the findings were recorded. The cases underwent endoscopy within the subsequent 8 weeks. The results of MDCT were compared with endoscopy findings, which were taken as gold standard. Results: We found 190 true-positives, 80 true-negatives, 03 false-negatives, and 02 false-positive results. MDCT demonstrated a sensitivity of 98.4%, a specificity of 97.6%, PPV of 99.0%, NPV of 96.4%, and an accuracy of 98.1%. Extra-esophageal findings on MDCT included other porto-systemic collaterals and hepatocellular carcinoma. Conclusion: MDCT is an effective modality for diagnosis of esophageal varices and can be used as a screening test for varices. CT also permits evaluation of extra-luminal pathology that impacts management.