Background and study aim.
Esophageal varices can cause upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Due to vascular alterations and other factors, cardiac dysfunction can develop in cirrhotic individuals. It is strongly correlated with the severity of liver disorders. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between the degree of esophageal varices and cardiac dysfunction in cirrhotic patients.
Patients and methods
This cross-sectional study was carried out on 60 cirrhotic patients. They were divided into three groups: group I included 20 cirrhotic patients with no esophageal varices; Group II included 20 cirrhotic patients with small varices; and Group III included 20 cirrhotic patients with large varices. Laboratory investigations, ultrasonography, echocardiography, and electrocardiography were done for all patients.
Results
A highly statistically significant difference was found between group III and the other two groups regarding having a history of upper GIT bleeding (p-value <0.001) and the corrected QT interval (QTc) (p-value <0.001). A statistically significant difference was found regarding the relation between the Child score of the patients and cardiomyopathy (p = 0.001). A strong positive correlation was found between the Child score and QTc (p<0.001). Also, a strong positive correlation was found between the degree of varices and QTc (p = 0.001). Other parameters evaluated by echocardiography showed no statistically significant difference between the studied groups (p> 0.5).
Conclusion.
Only a prolonged QT interval strongly relates to large varices regarding cardiac alterations and their linkage with the degree of esophageal varices. In our study, echocardiographic parameters had no relation to esophageal varices.