Serum Biomarkers for Early Detection of Portal Hypertension

Portal hypertension is in charge of a large portion of the aggravated conditions, namely variceal hemorrhage, ascites and hepatic encephalopathy that denote the transition from compensated to decompensated cirrhosis. Due to the invasiveness, requirement for advanced technical expertise and high costs associated with HVPG measurements, the introduction of simple, noninvasive screening and diagnostic methods would represent a great clinical advancement. The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of noninvasive liver fibrosis indexes in the diagnosis of portal hypertension (PH) This is a prospective study conducted in the period 2012-2016 including 87 cirrhotic patients. These patients are partly admitted at the Department of Gastrohepatology at University Hospital Mother Teresa in Tirana and partly also followed at the policlinic of specialities in Tirana. Noninvasive liver fibrosis indexes could be used not only as a first-line screening method for CSPH but also for predicting esophageal varices (EV) in cirrhotic patients as well as proxy for fluxmetric measurement.