BACKGROUND _ AIMS: Early detection of portal @entity101 (PH) may help to prevent the morbidity of late-stage @entity82 by stratifying disease severity and enabling disease-modifying interventions in potentially reversible conditions like @entity1561 and @entity99 . This study seeks to correlate morphometric features by confocal endomicroscopy with established surrogate clinical markers of PH. METHODS: @entity1 with and without PH scheduled for upper endoscopy at VA Boston participated in this IRB-approved study. Real-time probe-based confocal endomicroscopy (pCLE) was performed in the duodenum. Vascular and epithelial morphometry was performed off-line, in a blinded manner, using image-processing software. RESULTS: Morphometric analysis of pCLE images from 16 @entity1 with PH and 15 control @entity1 was performed. Statistically significant differences were observed among control and PH @entity1 for average vessel diameter (AVD: 11.7   m vs. 17.1   m), average vessel branching (AVB: 0.11 vs. 0.31 bifurcations per image frame), and average columnar cell height (ACCH: 40.0   m vs. 52.0   m). Spearman correlations comparing AVD, AVB and ACCH to portal gastropathy scores (0.86, 0.44 and 0.70) and to grade of oesophageal varices (0.88, 0.41 and 0.66) were statistically significant. Similarly, Pearson correlations of AVD and ACCH to spleen size (0.72 and 0.57), platelet count (-0.69 and -0.40) and the platelet count/spleen size ratio (-0.69 and -0.41) were also found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Duodenal pCLE reveals @entity384 and altered epithelial cell volume/morphology in PH. These morphometric pCLE markers correlate with surrogate markers of PH. Additional studies will define the correlation between microscopic vascular patterns, epithelial cell volume and the hepatic venous pressure gradient.

Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy quantitative morphometric markers associated with portal XXXX in duodenal mucosa.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['Patients', 'patients'] @entity82 :: ('MESH:D005355', 'Disease') :: ['cirrhosis'] @entity101 :: ('MESH:D006973', 'Disease') :: ['hypertension'] @entity384 :: ('MESH:D002311', 'Disease') :: ['microvascular dilatation'] @entity1561 :: ('MESH:D065626', 'Disease') :: ['non-alcoholic fatty liver disease'] @entity99 :: ('MESH:D056486', 'Disease') :: ['alcoholic hepatitis']
@entity101 :: (MESH:D006973,Disease) :: ['hypertension']
