Portal hypertensive gastropathy: reproducibility of a classification, prevalence of elementary lesions, sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of cirrhosis of the liver. A NIEC multicentre study. New Italian Endoscopic Club.

OBJECTIVE

To classify elementary endoscopic lesions of portal hypertensive gastropathy, assess their reproducibility, prevalences, sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of cirrhosis of the liver.

METHODS

1. A classification of portal hypertensive gastropathy elementary lesions was defined. 2) Thirty-two endoscopists evaluated videotapes of endoscopic examinations of patients with liver cirrhosis to assess beyond-chance agreement (kappa). 3) Fifteen centres enrolled consecutive patients with or without cirrhosis of the liver and recorded portal hypertensive gastropathy pattern according to its location.

RESULTS

1. Four elementary lesions (Mosaic-Like Pattern, Red Point Lesions, Cherry Red Spots, Black-Brown Spots) were identified, and graded. 2) A fair to good beyond-chance agreement was obtained for all 4 lesions. 3) portal hypertensive gastropathy prevalence was higher in patients with cirrhosis of the liver (0.63, sensitivity) than in controls (0.17). Mosaic-like pattern was the most prevalent sign (0.54). Specificity of portal hypertensive gastropathy was 0.83. Portal hypertensive gastropathy was tentatively classified as mild or severe when mosaic-like pattern alone or red marks of any kind were present, respectively; this classification led to a further improvement in reproducibility.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that a sufficient degree of agreement can be achieved in recording portal hypertensive gastropathy. Therefore, the New Italian Endoscopic Club classification should be used to evaluate the natural history of this condition.