Non-invasive assessment of esophageal varices: Status of today

With increasing burden of compensated cirrhosis, we desperately need non-invasive methods for assessment of clinically significant portal hypertension. The use of liver and spleen stiffness measurement helps in deferring unnecessary endoscopies for low risk esophageal varices. This would reduce cost and patient discomfort. However, these special techniques may not be feasible at remote areas where still we need only biochemical parameters. More prospective studies validating the non-invasive risk prediction models are definitely needed.