Objective To evaluate the performance of virtual touch tissue quantification (VTQ)technique in noninvasive assessment of esophageal varices (EV) in patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis.Methods One hundred and thirty-five patients were enrolled in this study.Liver shear wave velocity (LSWV) and spleen shear wave velocity (SSWV) were obtained by VTQ technique,and the detection of EV was performed by upper endoscopy per patient.The severity of EV was staged on a G1-G3 scale.Liver function was also tested.ResultsThe mean value of LSWV in patients with cirrhosis was (2.48±0.50)m/s,LSWV was not correlated with the stage of EV.The mean value of SSWV was (3.25 ± 0.44) m/s,a significant,direct,linear correlation ( r =0.66,P＜0.001 ) was found between SSWV and the stage of EV.The cut-off value of SSWV for predicting the presence of EV was 3.16 m/s and the area under ROC curve was 0.83,with the sensitivity and specificity of 0.83 and 0.80,respectively.The cut-off value of SSWV for predicting severe EV was 3.39m/s and the area under ROC curve was 0.84,with the sensitivity and specificity of 0.83 and 0.77,respectively.ConclusionsIn cirrhotic patients infected with hepatitis B virus,SSWV measured by VTQ technique can be used as a noninvasive method for determining the presence and the severity of EV,however evidence to support a similar role for LSWV is lacking.