Reliability of Plasma von Willebrand Factor Antigen in Prediction of Oesophageal Varices in Pediatric and Adolescent Patients with Portal Hypertension

Abstract

leeding esophageal varices (OVs) due to portal hypertension are one of the major complications with high mortality in liver cirrhosis. So, early detection and management are mandatory. This is a prospective cross-sectional study that was conducted over a period of two years, from December 2017 to December 2019, on pediatric and adolescent patients diagnosed portal hypertension at Pediatric Hepatology clinic, Ain Shams University Hospitals. This study aims to assess the percentage of plasma VWF-Ag as a non-invasive predictor of esophageal varices presence. We included a total of 47 cases with portal hypertension, who were divided into two groups according to the endoscopic findings; non-variceal group which included 10 cases, and variceal group which included 37 cases. All cases were subjected to complete history taking, thorough physical examination, and routine laboratory investigations. In addition, pelviabdominal doppler ultrasound, upper GI endoscopy, and serum VWF-Ag were also ordered. The mean age of the included cases was 8.5 and 7.5 years in the non-variceal and variceal groups respectively. Both age and gender were statistically insignificant between the two groups. The cause of portal hypertension was significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.031). Budd Chiari Syndrome was the commonest cause (50%) in the non-variceal group, while portal vein thrombosis was the commonest one in the variceal group (67.6%).