Liver stiffness as pre-operative risk parameter for routine abdominal surgery

Aims: Liver cirrhosis is a serious complication risk for routine surgery but no quantitiave screening tools exist. Vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE/Fibroscan) is a rapid and non-invasive bed side technique to assess liver stiffness (LS). Since LS is increased by various pathological conditions such as fibrosis, venous pressure, hepatitis and cholestasis that negatively affect the operation risk, VCTE could be an efficient preoperative screening tool for the risk assessment. Methods: LS was measured in addition to the routine preoperative anesthesia protocol (including ASA score) in 100 patients…