Background and study aim: The most accurate procedure for detecting esophageal varices (EV) is ‎esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). It is, however, a time-consuming and intrusive treatment. ‎As a result, a variety of noninvasive, easy, and inexpensive alternative screening methods for ‎varices have been investigated. The PAPAS index (Platelet/Age/ Phosphatase/AFP/AST) was ‎investigated for its utility in predicting the occurrence of EV in HCV-related cirrhotic patients‎.
Patients and Method: ‎ A One hundred cirrhotic patients were studied in a cross-sectional study at Ain Shams University's ‎Tropical Medicine Department. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was used to examine for the ‎presence and severity of gastroesophageal varices in all individuals. The PAPAS Index, as well as ‎other known predictive scores, were calculated‎.‎
Results: Patients with EV had a higher PAPAS index with a significant value. The PAPAS index had a ‎greater prediction ability than other existing scores for detecting EV and large EV (APRI, FIB-4, ‎and Lok Score). With 86% sensitivity, 93.33% specificity, 95.2 % PPV, 73.7% NPV in detecting ‎EVs and 94.87 % sensitivity, 86.43% specificity, 71.2% PPV, 86.7 % NPV in detecting Large ‎EVs, the PAPAS index at cutoffs greater than 0.3 and 0.3056 was useful for diagnosing EVs and ‎large EVs, respectively‎‎‎‎.
Conclusion: The PAPAS index is a new score for predicting esophageal varices in HCV-related cirrhotic ‎patients that could help enhance the quality of non-invasive EV and large EV screening and reduce ‎the need for endoscopic procedures‎‎‎‎‎.