Diagnostic Accurateness of AST/ALT for Esophageal Variceal Bleeding Diagnosis Considering Endoscopy as Gold Standard

Aim: To assess the diagnostic accurateness of AST/ALT ≥ 1 for detecting esophageal varices' considering endoscopy as gold standard. Study Design: A Cross-sectional study. Place and duration of study: The study was conducted at Lahore General Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar during the period from January 2022 to December 2022. Methodology: Using non-probability purposive sampling, 180 patients with liver cirrhosis between the ages of 18 and 65, of either sex, were selected. On endoscopy, esophageal varices were confirmed, and the AST/ALT Ratio was calculated. Results: Of the 180 patients in total, 120 (66.7%) were men and 60 (33.3%) were women. The sampled population's mean age was 51.20 ±6.9 years. The average duration of CLD was 5.42 years with a range of 2 to 10 years. 118 (65.5%) patients had an AST/ALT ratio greater than 1, 105 (58.3%) had varices detected during endoscopy, and 75 (41.7%) had no varices. The results showed that the sensitivity was computed to be 96.8%, the specificity to be 55.2%, the negative predictive value to be 90.2%, the positive predictive value to be 77.1%, the false negative rate to be 6.9% and the false positive rate to be 41.5%.