Liver disease in the older child

Fasting intact insulin by mass spectrometry is associated with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in youth

BACKGROUND

Fasting intact insulin concentrations can predict metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) in adults without diabetes; however, research in youth is limited. We sought to determine whether fasting intact insulin, measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, is associated with MASLD in children.

METHODS

This retrospective cross-sectional analysis used data and samples from children who participated in studies across 3 universities between 2014 and 2022. Key measurements included fasting intact insulin, ALT, and hepatic steatosis assessed by MRI techniques. MASLD was defined as hepatic steatosis ≥5% by MRI with at least 1 cardiometabolic risk factor. The optimal cutoff points to identify MASLD were determined by maximizing the Youden index, and the AUROC curves were compared using the DeLong test.

RESULTS

The analysis included 184 children (28% male; 14.9 ± 2.6 y; 57% Hispanic race/ethnicity; body mass index 32.5 ± 8.1 kg/m2; 64% with MASLD, 43% with polycystic ovary syndrome, and 5% with other liver diseases). Fasting intact insulin and ALT levels were significantly higher in children with MASLD (p < 0.05). Fasting intact insulin was strongly associated with MASLD with an AUROC of 0.83 (0.77-0.90), sensitivity of 71%, and specificity of 85%. When combined with ALT (intact insulin × ALT [μU/mL × U/L]), the AUROC was 0.88 (0.83-0.94), with a sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 81%. The improvement in AUROC over intact insulin alone was not statistically significant (p = 0.089) but was statistically significant from ALT (p = 0.022). Optimal cutoff points for intact insulin and intact insulin × ALT were 20 μU/mL and 522 μU/mL × U/L, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In pediatric patients, measurements of fasting intact insulin alone and combined with ALT provide a noninvasive strategy for identifying the presence of MASLD.

Liver fibrosis assessment in pediatric population - can ultrasound elastography be an alternative method to liver biopsy? A systematic review

Liver diseases of various etiologies are becoming increasingly common in the pediatric population. So far, the gold diagnostic standard in these disorders is liver biopsy. This procedure is invasive, painful and requires general anesthesia in this group of patients. Due to the continuous development of new research techniques, such as liver elastography, it is necessary to evaluate them in the context of their diagnostic usefulness. Ultrasound elastography, as a quick and effective method, is being used more and more often in the assessment and monitoring of liver dysfunction in both adults and children. There are several techniques of liver elastography, such as transient elastography, shear wave elastography consisting of various subtypes such as two-dimensional shear wave elastography, acoustic radiation force impulse and point shear wave elastography, which differ in terms of the measurement technique and the achieved results. The purpose of our review was to determine whether techniques of liver elastography could replace liver biopsy. Although now, based on the analyzed papers, elastography cannot replace liver biopsy, in our opinion, the role of this tool in monitoring pediatric patients with liver diseases will grow in the coming years.

Poor Access to Liver Transplantation and Survival of Children With Acute Liver Failure, Acute-on-chronic Liver Failure or Chronic Liver Disease

We describe the survival of children with acute liver failure (ALF), chronic liver disease (CLD), or acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) with poor access to liver transplantation (LT). A retrospective cohort study of 42 patients <18 years of age was conducted in the Hospital Civil de Guadalajara "Dr. Juan I. Menchaca". The median age was 76 months; 57.1% were female, 40.5% presented with ALF, 35.7% with CLD, and 23.8% with ACLF. Also, 38.1% (16/42) presented liver disease of unknown etiology. Death occurred in 45.2%; 14.3% were transferred to another hospital, and none received LT. Mortality in ALF, CLD, and ACLF was 76%, 0%, and 60%, respectively. In the survival analysis, within the first 20 months after diagnosis, the mortality rate was greater than 50% with ALF. The importance of having referral programs that perform liver transplantation is highlighted by the poor prognosis of the patients, despite conservative treatment.