Arterial hypertension as an uninvited player in hepatic stiffness?

Liver Stiffness by Transient Elastography to Detect Porto-Sinusoidal Vascular Liver Disease With Portal Hypertension

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Porto-sinusoidal vascular liver disease (PSVD) is a rare cause of portal hypertension. PSVD is still often misdiagnosed as cirrhosis, emphasizing the need to improve PSVD diagnosis strategies. Data on liver stiffness measurement using transient elastography (TE-LSM) in PSVD are limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of TE-LSM to discriminate PSVD from cirrhosis in patients with signs of portal hypertension.

APPROACH AND RESULTS

Retrospective multicenter study comparing TE-LSM in patients with PSVD, according to Vascular Liver Disease Interest Group criteria, with patients with compensated biopsy-proven cirrhosis associated with alcohol (n = 117), HCV infection (n = 110), or NAFLD (n = 46). All patients had at least one sign of portal hypertension among gastroesophageal varices, splenomegaly, portosystemic collaterals, history of ascites, or platelet count < 150 × 10⁹ /L. The 77 patients with PSVD included in the test cohort had lower median TE-LSM (7.9 kPa) than the patients with alcohol-associated, HCV-related, and NAFLD-related cirrhosis (33.8, 18.2, and 33.6 kPa, respectively; P < 0.001). When compared with cirrhosis, a cutoff value of 10 kPa had a specificity of 97% for the diagnosis of PSVD with a 85% positive predictive value. A cutoff value of 20 kPa had a sensitivity of 94% for ruling out PSVD with a 97% negative predictive value. Of the patients, 94% were well-classified. Even better results were obtained in a validation cohort including 78 patients with PSVD.

CONCLUSIONS

This study including a total of 155 patients with PSVD and 273 patients with cirrhosis demonstrates that TE-LSM < 10 kPa strongly suggests PSVD in patients with signs of portal hypertension. Conversely, when TE-LSM is >20 kPa, PSVD is highly unlikely.

Profiles of advanced hepatic fibrosis evaluated by FIB-4 index and shear wave elastography in health checkup examinees

AIM

Advanced hepatic fibrosis is seen in individuals with potential hepatocellular carcinoma and cardiovascular disease. Hepatic fibrosis can be assessed using a combination of the FIB-4 index and imaging modalities, including shear wave elastography. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of advanced fibrosis in the general population and the profiles associated with advanced fibrosis using a data-mining analysis.

METHODS

We enrolled 1155 health checkup examinees (median age 53 years, 685 women, 470 male). Advanced fibrosis was defined by FIB-4 index ≥1.3 and liver stiffness ≥8.07 kPa using shear wave elastography. Participants were classified as normal-mild fibrosis (n = 1035) or advanced fibrosis (n = 120). Factors associated with advanced fibrosis were analyzed by logistic regression and decision-tree analyses.

RESULTS

Advanced fibrosis was observed in 10.4% of participants (120/1155). In the logistic regression analysis, independent factors for advanced fibrosis were age (≥75 years; OR 2.12, 95% CI 1.021-4.415; P = 0.0419) and the presence of metabolic syndrome (OR 2.51, 95% CI 1.416-4.462; P = 0.0017). The decision-tree analysis showed two profiles associated with advanced fibrosis: profile 1 - individuals aged ≥65 years with metabolic syndrome and mild-to-moderate alcohol consumption (prevalence of advanced fibrosis 73.3%); and profile 2 - individuals without metabolic syndrome, aged ≥75 years, with no exercise habit (prevalence of advanced fibrosis 56.3%).

CONCLUSIONS

Advanced fibrosis was observed in 10.4% of health checkup examinees. Furthermore, we showed that aging, metabolic syndrome with mild-to-moderate alcohol consumption, and physical inactivity were associated with advanced fibrosis. Thus, prevention of metabolic syndrome and alcohol withdrawal, as well as exercise habits, might inhibit the progression of hepatic fibrosis.