Zhijun Liu, Xiaoguang Dou, Jintao Guo, Ying Zhao, Jing Zhang, Weidong Ren, Shaoshan Tang, Yan Zhang, Xiaoyue Zhang, Liping Huang, Lianjie Lin
The use of transabdominal color Doppler ultrasound after oral administration of an oral cellulose-based contrast agent (TUS-OCCA) in depicting varices at the cardia and fundus was explored. Both gastroscopy and transabdominal color Doppler ultrasound (TUS) were performed for this purpose, with gastroscopy serving as the gold standard. Patients were assigned by TUS protocol to one of three groups: TUS + empty stomach (TUS-ES); TUS + oral water intake (TUS-OW); and TUS-OCCA. TUS-based grading of varices reflected venous diameters and blood flow velocities, designated as follows: Ux = difficulty discerning gastric fundus and cardia or delineating varices; U0 = no detectable varices; U1 = diameter <5 mm, flow rate <10 cm/s; U2 = diameter <5 mm, flow rate ≥10 cm/s; U3 = diameter 5-10 mm, flow rate <10 cm/s; U4 = diameter 5-10 mm, flow rate ≥10 cm/s; and U5 = diameter >10 mm, any flow rate...
March 23, 2020: Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology