Comparison of the serum fibrinogen level and International Normalized Ratio in the assessment of the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding in decompensated cirrhosis

Introduction: Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is the most life-threatening complication of cirrhosis and it's predicting is crucial for the management of cirrhotic patients. The present study aimed to assess the relationship between INR and plasma fibrinogen level and the risk of GI bleeding using in cirrhotic patients. Methods: In the present cross-sectional study, seventy-eight cirrhotic patients were enrolled. We assessed demographic, biochemical, hematologic parameters in all patients. Underlying diseases and the etiology of cirrhosis were documented. The Child-Pugh and the Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores were used to assess the severity of liver cirrhosis. The history of bleeding episodes within 6 months before inclusion were recorded. A blood sample was drowned and fibrinogen and prothrombin time (PT) were measured and INR was calculated. Results: The patients' mean age was 51.23±15.08 years and 40 (51.3%) were male. About 17 patients (%21.7) had a history of GI bleeding within 6 months before the study. The significant difference was observed between the two groups who experienced bleeding and who did not regarding the fibrinogen level (P < 0.05). The fibrinogen level was a better predictive marker of bleeding in cirrhotic patients (AUC: 0.87). According to the results of predictive tests, the fibrinogen level had a sensitivity of (77%) and specificity of (%94) in the prediction of bleeding with the cut-off value of 182.5. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that the fibrinogen level is a better predictor of bleeding in cirrhotic patients compared with INR.