Do the number of spider angiomas correlate with the severity of alcohol induced liver disease?
- Yes, although there is some degree of individual susceptibility to spider angiomas.
- However, the correlation is high enough that one report suggests that barmaids in New York used to guess the degree of severity of liver cirrhosis of their customers based on the number of visible spider angiomas.
- The number of spider angiomas also correlates with the presence of esophageal varices.
- One study demonstrated that the presence of more than 20 spider angiomas correlated with a 50% chance of esophageal bleeding.