Cardiac lesion characteristics in patients with liver cirrhosis and their correlation with esophageal varices

Huaye Jiang; Yongmei Fan

doi:10.12449/JCH260717

Volume 42 Issue 7

Jul. 2026

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Article Navigation > Journal of Clinical Hepatology > 2026 > 42(7): 1607-1613

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Cardiac lesion characteristics in patients with liver cirrhosis and their correlation with esophageal varices

DOI: 10.12449/JCH260717

Huaye Jiang,
Yongmei Fan^{,
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Department of Function，Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital （The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University），Changsha 410000，China

Research funding:

Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2026JJ82562);

Key Guided Research Project of Hunan Provincial Health Commission (C202303018917)

More Information

Corresponding author: Fan Yongmei， fanyongmei@126.com （ORCID： 0000-0003-1234-1067）
Received Date: 2026-01-15
Accepted Date: 2026-03-18
Published Date: 2026-07-25

Abstract

Abstract

Objective To investigate the characteristics of cardiac structure and function in patients with liver cirrhosis and the correlation of cardiac ultrasound parameters and cardiac function parameters with esophageal varices （EV）， and to provide a theoretical basis for identifying high-risk patients in the early stage， optimizing clinical management， and improving prognosis. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 359 patients who were hospitalized in Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital and were diagnosed with liver cirrhosis from January 2020 to December 2023， among whom there were 176 patients in the non-EV group and 183 patients in the EV group. The two groups were compared in terms of general data， laboratory test results， and examination findings， and the characteristics of cardiac lesions were analyzed for liver cirrhosis patients with EV. The independent samples t-test was used for comparison between the two groups， a one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups， and the least significant difference t-test or the Tamhane’s T2 test was used for further comparison between two groups based on homogeneity of variance； The Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison between the two groups， the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups； the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups； the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used for correlation analysis. Results There were no significant differences in sex and age between the two groups （all P >0.05）. Compared with the non-EV group， the EV group had significantly lower levels of red blood cell， hemoglobin， platelet， prothrombin activity， albumin， and albumin/globulin ratio （all P<0.05） and significantly higher values of total bilirubin， total bile acid， cardiac creatine kinase， fibrosis-4 index， LOK index， aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index， and aspartate aminotransferase-to-alanine aminotransferase ratio （all P <0.001）. For the non-EV group， 58.0% of the patients had Child-Pugh class A disease， while in the EV group， 48.1% of the patients had Child-Pugh class B disease. Compared with the non-EV group， the EV group had significantly greater left atrial anterior-posterior diameter （LA-ap）， left ventricular end-diastolic diameter （LVEDD）， right atrial transverse diameter （RA-t）， early diastolic filling velocity at the mitral valve orifice （E）， early diastolic filling velocity/late diastolic filling velocity （E/A） ratio， peak systolic velocity of pulmonary valve （PV）， peak systolic velocity of aortic valve （AV）， and QTc interval （all P<0.05）. The Spearman correlation analysis showed that LA-ap， LVEDD， RA-t， E， E/A， PV， AV and QTc interval were positively correlated with EV （all P<0.05）， among which LA-ap， E， and PV had an r-value of 0.297， 0.223， and 0.311， respectively. Comparison of the patients with different Child-Pugh classes showed that compared with the Child-Pugh class B and C groups， the Child-Pugh class A group had significantly smaller LA-ap， mid-right ventricular transverse diameter， E， PV， AV， HR， and QTc interval （all P<0.05）； compared with the Child-Pugh class B group， the Child-Pugh class A group had significantly lower values of LVEDD， RA-t， and E/A ratio （all P<0.05）； there were significant differences in A and PV between the Child-Pugh class B group and the Child-Pugh class C group （all P<0.05）. Conclusion Liver cirrhosis patients with EV have significant cardiac lesions， and routine echocardiography should be performed to assess cardiac function.
- Liver Cirrhosis,
- Esophageal and Gastric Varices,
- Heart

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References(21)

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Cardiac lesion characteristics in patients with liver cirrhosis and their correlation with esophageal varices

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Cardiac lesion characteristics in patients with liver cirrhosis and their correlation with esophageal varices

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