Invasive and non-invasive diagnosis of cirrhosis and portal hypertension

With advances in the management and treatment of advanced liver disease,including the use of antiviral therapy,a simple,one stage description for advanced fibrotic liver disease has become inadequate.Although refining the diagnosis of cirrhosis to reflect disease heterogeneity is essential,current diagnostic tests have not kept pace with the progression of this new paradigm.Liver biopsy and hepatic venous pressure gradient measurement are the gold standards for the estimation of hepatic fibrosis and portal hypertension(PHT),respectively,and they have diagnostic and prognostic value.However,they are invasive and,as such,cannot be used repeatedly in clinical practice.The ideal noninvasive test should be safe,easy to perform,inexpensive,reproducible as well as to give numerical and accurate results in real time.It should be predictive of long term outcomes related with fibrosis and PHT to allow prognostic stratification.Recently,many types of noninvasive alternative tests have been developed and are under investigation.In particular,imaging and ultrasound based tests,such as transient elastography,have shown promising results.Although most of these noninvasive tests effectively identify severe fibrosis and PHT,the methods available for diagnosing moderate disease status are still insufficient,and further investigation is essential to predict outcomes and individualize therapy in this field.

Clinical applications, limitations and future role of transient elastography in the management of liver disease

Transient elastography(TE) is a reliable tool for the non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis in routine clinical practice. TE is currently approved for use in Europe, Asia and the United States. The widespread adoption of this technology is certain to increase the use of TE worldwide. Although TE has been well validated in chronic viral hepatitis, its clinical role in other liver diseases remains less clear. The advent of new treatment for chronic hepatitis C and emerging prevalence of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis raises new questions on the role of TE in current clinical practice. This review aims to examine the clinical applications, limitations and future role of TE in current clinical practice in light of the changing epidemiology of liver diseases and new clinical management paradigms. In current clinical practice, TE is the most accurate noninvasive method for diagnosis of liver cirrhosis. TE is useful to rule out fibrosis and cirrhosis but does not have sufficient accuracy to discern between various stages of fibrosis. The clinical role of TE has evolved from cross-sectional point-in-time assessment of fibrosis and cirrhosis to the more relevant role of prediction of vital clinical end-points. This provides clinicians with the ability to modify treatment strategies based on the information provided by TE. TE has evolved over the past decade to become an essential tool to assist the clinician in the management of chronic liver disease.

Assessment of liver disease in patients with chronic hepatitis C and unhealthy alcohol use

Hepatitis C virus(HCV)infection and unhealthy alcohol use are major drivers of the burden of liver disease worldwide and commonly co-occur.Assessment of underlying liver damage is a cornerstone of the clinical care of patients with chronic HCV infection and/or unhealthy alcohol use because many of them are diagnosed at advanced stages of disease.Early diagnosis of liver disease before decompensated liver cirrhosis becomes established is essential for treatment with direct acting antivirals and/or abstinence from alcohol consumption,which are the main therapeutic approaches for clinical management.In this review,we discuss current knowledge around the use of non-invasive methods to assess liver disease,such as abdominal ultrasound,controlled attenuation parameter,transient elastography,magnetic resonance imaging,and indices based on serum markers of liver injury.

Utility of FibroScan-based scoring systems to narrow the risk group of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease with comorbidities

BACKGROUND Vibration-controlled transient elastography(VCTE)is proposed as a second step of examination to assess liver fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)after triaging by the fibrosis-4(FIB-4)index.Recently,VCTEbased scoring systems,including FibroScan-AST(FAST),Agile 3+,and Agile 4,emerged to determine the status of NAFLD.However,the significance of these scoring systems remains unknown in narrowing the high-risk group of NAFLD patients with comorbidities,including hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)and esophagogastric varices(EGV).AIM To clarify the significance of VCTE-based scoring systems to narrow the high-risk group of NAFLD patients with comorbidities.METHODS We performed a cross-sectional study to investigate the usefulness of VCTE-based scoring systems and other fibrosis markers to narrow the high-risk group of patients with NAFLD.FIB-4 index was used for the first triage.Risk groups of FAST,Agile 3+,and Agile 4 were stratified according to the published data.Among the 191 patients with NAFLD,there were 26(14%)and 25 patients(13%)with HCC and EGV,respectively.RESULTS When 1.3 was used as a cutoff value,the FIB-4 index narrowed the risk group to 120 patients,in which all patients with HCC and/or EGV were included.High risk group of Agile 3+could subsequently narrow the risk group.The prevalence of HCC and EGV at this step were 33%(26/80)and 31%(25/80),respectively.In further narrowing of EGV,Agile 4 aggregated the patients with EGV into 43 patients,of whom 23(53%)had EGV.FAST failed to narrow the risk group of patients with comorbidities.When 2.6 was used as a cutoff value of the FIB-4 index,three patients with HCC and two patients with EGV were missed at the first triage.CONCLUSION Agile 3+and Agile 4 are useful to narrow the NAFLD patient group,in which patients may have HCC and/or EGV.

Clinical utility of non-invasive tests to predict clinical outcomes in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)is the leading cause of chronic liver disease,and the fastest-growing cause of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)worldwide(1,2).As the number of people with NAFLD is too great to perform surveillance in all,risk-stratification strategies are increasingly important to identify those at the highest risk of decompensation and HCC(3,4).

腹腔镜袖状胃切除术治疗肥胖合并非酒精性脂肪性肝病的疗效分析

目的分析腹腔镜袖状胃切除术(laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy,LSG)治疗肥胖合并非酒精性脂肪性肝病(nonalcoholic fatty liver disease,NAFLD)病人的短期临床疗效。方法回顾性分析2017年8月至2018年12月在武汉大学中南医院肝胆胰外科收治的行LSG的60例肥胖合并NAFLD病人的临床资料,术后随访3~6个月,评估术后体重、糖脂代谢、肝功能指标的变化,并采用无创性肝脏瞬时弹性超声(FibroTouch)测定肝脏的硬度值(liver stiffness measure,LSM)和脂肪受控衰减参数(fat controlled attenuation parameter,CAP)。聚焦分析手术对胰岛素抵抗、肝脏脂肪含量和肝纤维化情况的影响。结果术前的体质量指数(body mass index,BMI)与LSM和CAP呈显著正相关(P<0.05),无创性肝纤维化指标与LSM和CAP呈显著正相关(P<0.05),胰岛素抵抗模型与CAP呈显著正相关(P<0.05)。术后平均随访4个月(3.13~5.97个月):多余体重减少百分比为(73.2±12.6)%;BMI、空腹血糖、糖化血红蛋白、总胆固醇、三酰甘油均显著降低(P<0.05);高密度脂蛋白胆固醇显著增加(P<0.05)。转氨酶、胰岛素抵抗模型、无创性肝纤维化指标、LSM和CAP显著降低(P<0.05)。术前51.6%的病人进展期肝纤维化(F3以上),术后降为21.4%。术前所有病人均有脂肪肝,轻、中、重度脂肪肝分别占1.7%、8.3%、90.0%,术后25.0%病人恢复正常,轻、中、重度脂肪肝占比为14.3%、25.0%、35.7%。结论LSG可有效治疗肥胖合并NAFLD,近期效果显著。