Reviewer's report
Title:Transient elastography for predicting esophageal/gastric varices in children
with biliary atresia
Version: 1Date:5 February 2011
Reviewer: Seok Joo Han
Reviewer's report:
1.The authors mentioned that the splenomegaly on physical examination would
be a useful screening tool for predicting of esophageal and gastric varices.
However, there is no scientific definition of splenomegaly in manuscript. I think
that they should define the splenomegaly with more detail and objective
terminology before using the data of splenomegaly.
2. In 'reference 26, the sensitivity of splenomegaly is 97.7%, but the specificity is
just up 26.8 percent. However, in this study, the sensitivity 92% and specificity
85% of splenomegaly is 92 and 85%, respectively. How could authors get such
good results? What is thee reason of such good result?
3. The number of patients with splenomegaly in Table 1 (39 patients) is different
from the number of result section (44 patients).
4. In the second sentence of methods, “esophageal/gastric varices’ should be
replaced with its abbreviation such as EV/GV.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Not suitable for publication unless extensively edited
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests' below
Reviewer's report
Title:Transient elastography for predicting esophageal/gastric varices in children
with biliary atresia
Version: 1Date:5 February 2011
Reviewer: Seok Joo Han
Reviewer's report:
1.The authors mentioned that the splenomegaly on physical examination would
be a useful screening tool for predicting of esophageal and gastric varices.
However, there is no scientific definition of splenomegaly in manuscript. I think
that they should define the splenomegaly with more detail and objective
terminology before using the data of splenomegaly.
2. In 'reference 26, the sensitivity of splenomegaly is 97.7%, but the specificity is
just up 26.8 percent. However, in this study, the sensitivity 92% and specificity
85% of splenomegaly is 92 and 85%, respectively. How could authors get such
good results? What is thee reason of such good result?
3. The number of patients with splenomegaly in Table 1 (39 patients) is different
from the number of result section (44 patients).
4. In the second sentence of methods, “esophageal/gastric varices’ should be
replaced with its abbreviation such as EV/GV.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Not suitable for publication unless extensively edited
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests' below
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:Transient elastography for predicting esophageal/gastric varices in children
with biliary atresia
Version: 1Date:5 February 2011
Reviewer: Seok Joo Han
Reviewer's report:
1.The authors mentioned that the splenomegaly on physical examination would
be a useful screening tool for predicting of esophageal and gastric varices.
However, there is no scientific definition of splenomegaly in manuscript. I think
that they should define the splenomegaly with more detail and objective
terminology before using the data of splenomegaly.
2. In 'reference 26, the sensitivity of splenomegaly is 97.7%, but the specificity is
just up 26.8 percent. However, in this study, the sensitivity 92% and specificity
85% of splenomegaly is 92 and 85%, respectively. How could authors get such
good results? What is thee reason of such good result?
3. The number of patients with splenomegaly in Table 1 (39 patients) is different
from the number of result section (44 patients).
4. In the second sentence of methods, “esophageal/gastric varices’ should be
replaced with its abbreviation such as EV/GV.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Not suitable for publication unless extensively edited
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests' below
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