“…After giving consent for participation, all patients were submitted to detailed history, clinical evaluation, laboratory investigations [complete blood count, liver & kidney function tests, coagulation profile, and alfa-fetoprotein]. Then, abdominal ultrasonography [US] was performed by Toshiba Ultrasound [the Aplio 500 Toshiba, Japan], to estimate the liver and spleen size, detect collaterals, ascites, focal lesions, or signs indicative of cirrhosis [coarse echopattern, surface nodularity, and caudate lobe hypertrophy], and to assess the collaterals, and portal vein shape and diameter [11] .…”