Measurement of Spleen Stiffness by Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Imaging Identifies Cirrhotic Patients With Esophageal Varices

BACKGROUND & AIMS: We evaluated whether spleen stiffness (SS), measured by acoustic radiation force impulse imaging, can identify patients who have esophageal varices (EVs); those without EVs would not require endoscopic examination. METHODS: In a prospective study, we measured SS and liver stiffness (LS) in 340 patients with cirrhosis undergoing endoscopic screening for EVs and 16 healthy volunteers (controls) at the Kurashiki Central Hospital in Okayama, Japan. The diagnostic accuracy of SS for the presence of EVs was compared with that of other noninvasive parameters (LS, spleen diameter, and platelet count). Optimal cutoff values of SS were chosen to confidently rule out the presence of varices. RESULTS: Patients with cirrhosis had significantly higher SS and LS values than controls (P < .0001 and P < .0001, respectively). Levels of SS were higher among patients with EVs (n = 132) than controls, and values were highest among patients with high-risk EVs (n = 87). SS had the greatest diagnostic accuracy for the identification of patients with EVs or high-risk EVs compared with other noninvasive parameters, independent of the etiology of cirrhosis. An SS cutoff value of 3.18 m/s identified patients with EVs with a 98.4% negative predictive value, 98.5% sensitivity, 75.0% accuracy, and 0.025 negative likelihood ratio. An SS cutoff value of 3.30 m/s identified patients with high-risk EVs with a 99.4% negative predictive value, 98.9% sensitivity, 72.1% accuracy, and 0.018 negative likelihood ratio. SS values less than 3.3 m/s ruled out the presence of high-risk varices in patients with compensated or decompensated cirrhosis. SS could not be measured in 16 patients (4.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Measurements of SS can be used to identify patients with cirrhosis with EVs or high-risk EVs. A cutoff SS was identified that could rule out the presence of varices and could be used as an initial noninvasive screening test; UMIN Clinical Trials Registry number, UMIN 000004363.