scholarly journals Assessing liver stiffness with conventional cut‐off values overestimates liver fibrosis staging in patients who received the Fontan procedure

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuki Cho ◽  
Daijiro Kabata ◽  
Eiji Ehara ◽  
Akira Yamamoto ◽  
Tatsuki Mizuochi ◽  
...  
Circulation ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 130 (suppl_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaya Sugimoto ◽  
Hideharu Oka ◽  
Aya Kajihama ◽  
Kouichi Nakau ◽  
Hiroshi Azuma

Background: The incidence of late complications related to the liver such as fibrosis/cirrhosis is increasing in patients who have undergone the Fontan procedure and may contribute to morbidity and mortality. Recently, magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), a novel evaluation technique of liver fibrosis, has been attracting attention. However, few reports have described the use of MRE for evaluating liver fibrosis in children with congenital heart disease (CHD). Methods: Thirty-two children were examined and divided into 4 groups: 12 children with CHD who underwent intracardiac repair (ICR; median age, 13.0 years); 10 with CHD who underwent the Fontan procedure (Fontan; 15.3 years); 8 who were included in the control group (control; 15.8 years); and 2 children with cirrhosis (cirrhosis; 16.3 years). The liver stiffness (LS) was estimated by MRE. LS was measured 3 times consecutively, and the mean value was considered for further analysis. Central venous pressure (CVP) and cardiac index (C.I.) were determined by cardiac catheterization. The levels of cardiac biomarkers (NTproBNP and PIIIP) were determined at the same time. Results: Among the 4 groups, no significant differences were observed in age, C.I., and NTproBNP levels. The PIIIP levels in the cirrhosis group were significantly higher than those in the control, but no significant difference in PIIIP levels was found among the other groups (p < 0.01). LS in the Fontan and cirrhosis group was significantly higher than that in the control group (5.6, 15.3 vs. 2.4 kPa, respectively; Fig. 1). Furthermore, there was a strong correlation between LS and CVP (r = 0.802; Fig. 2). Conclusions: This study showed that LS is a direct function of CVP, which should be considered when assessing the degree of liver fibrosis in children with CHD. In particular, in the case of children who undergo the Fontan procedure, the highly sensitive MRE can be used to evaluate liver fibrosis and help detect LS earlier than cardiac biomarkers do.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Perazzo ◽  
Valdilea G. Veloso ◽  
Beatriz Grinsztejn ◽  
Chris Hyde ◽  
Rodolfo Castro

Transient elastography (TE) based on liver stiffness measurement (LSM) is one of the most validated noninvasive methods for liver fibrosis staging in patients with chronic liver diseases. This method is painless, has no potential complications, is rapid (<10 min), and can be performed at the patient’s bedside. However, several points should be considered when interpreting TE results. This review aims to discuss the critical points that might influence liver stiffness and TE results. Spectrum bias and the impact of the prevalence of fibrosis stages should be taken into account when interpreting the studies that validated this method using liver biopsy as a gold-standard. LSM might be influenced by nonfasting status, flare of transaminases, heart failure, extrahepatic cholestasis, presence of steatosis, aetiology of liver disease, type and position of probe, and operator’s experience. In addition, interobserver variability can impact on the management of patients with chronic liver diseases. TE should be performed by an experienced operator (>100 exams), in a 3-hour fasting status, and its results should be handled by specialist clinicians that are aware of the limitations of this method.


Author(s):  
Yunchao Yin ◽  
Derya Yakar ◽  
Rudi A. J. O. Dierckx ◽  
Kim B. Mouridsen ◽  
Thomas C. Kwee ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Deep learning has been proven to be able to stage liver fibrosis based on contrast-enhanced CT images. However, until now, the algorithm is used as a black box and lacks transparency. This study aimed to provide a visual-based explanation of the diagnostic decisions made by deep learning. Methods The liver fibrosis staging network (LFS network) was developed at contrast-enhanced CT images in the portal venous phase in 252 patients with histologically proven liver fibrosis stage. To give a visual explanation of the diagnostic decisions made by the LFS network, Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-cam) was used to produce location maps indicating where the LFS network focuses on when predicting liver fibrosis stage. Results The LFS network had areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.92, 0.89, and 0.88 for staging significant fibrosis (F2–F4), advanced fibrosis (F3–F4), and cirrhosis (F4), respectively, on the test set. The location maps indicated that the LFS network had more focus on the liver surface in patients without liver fibrosis (F0), while it focused more on the parenchyma of the liver and spleen in case of cirrhosis (F4). Conclusions Deep learning methods are able to exploit CT-based information from the liver surface, liver parenchyma, and extrahepatic information to predict liver fibrosis stage. Therefore, we suggest using the entire upper abdomen on CT images when developing deep learning–based liver fibrosis staging algorithms. Key Points • Deep learning algorithms can stage liver fibrosis using contrast-enhanced CT images, but the algorithm is still used as a black box and lacks transparency. • Location maps produced by Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping can indicate the focus of the liver fibrosis staging network. • Deep learning methods use CT-based information from the liver surface, liver parenchyma, and extrahepatic information to predict liver fibrosis stage.


2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 640.1-640
Author(s):  
S. J. Choi ◽  
J. S. Lee ◽  
S. H. Nam ◽  
W. J. Seo ◽  
J. S. Oh ◽  
...  

Background:Methotrexate (MTX) is a cornerstone drug for the treatment of rheumatic disease and low doses of MTX are both tolerable and safe, with monitored toxicity, assessed via the liver function test. However, there is still controversy regarding the risk of liver fibrosis with long-term use of MTX. Transient elastography is commonly used to assess and monitor fibrosis progression in patients with chronic liver disease.Objectives:The present study aims to investigate liver fibrosis using transient elastography and related factors in patients with rheumatic disease receiving long-term MTX.Methods:The present retrospective, longitudinal, cross-sectional study included patients with an autoimmune disease who are taking cumulative MTX dosed over 7 g, and who had liver fibrosis upon examination using transient elastography. Liver fibrosis was defined as liver stiffness, valued over 7.2 kPa. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with liver fibrosis, and receiver operating characteristics analysis was used to determine the predictive value of each factor.Results:We included 83 patients with autoimmune disease, with a median MTX cumulative dose of 11.6 (range 7.3-16.0) g. Sixty-eight patients (81.9%) had rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and 13 patients (15.7%) had Takayasu arteritis. The median MTX exposure duration was 18 (range 9-31) years. The median liver stiffness value was 4 (range 1.8-10.2) kPa. Five patients (6%) showed liver fibrosis (3 patients; RA, 2 patients; Takayasu arteritis). In the linear regression analysis, cumulative MTX dose showed a tendency towards a positive correlation with increasing liver stiffness value (r2 =0.039, p = 0.074). In the logistic regression analysis, cumulative MTX dose was associated with a higher risk of liver fibrosis (OR: 1.734, 95% CI: 1.060–2.837, p = 0.029). In addition, cumulative MTX dose had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.813 (95% CI 0.695-0.930) and a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 71.8% at a cut-off value of 12.7 g.Conclusion:Liver fibrosis was observed in 6% of patients with long-term MTX use and higher cumulative MTX doses increased the risk of liver fibrosis. Thus, transient elastography should be considered in patients exposed to high cumulative doses of MTX.Disclosure of Interests:None declared


Author(s):  
Carole Vitellius ◽  
Anita Paisant ◽  
Adrien Lannes ◽  
Julien Chaigneau ◽  
Frédéric Oberti ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 150 (4) ◽  
pp. S1064
Author(s):  
Felix Bende ◽  
Alina Popescu ◽  
Roxana Sirli ◽  
Raluca Lupusoru ◽  
Ruxandra G. Mare ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-133
Author(s):  
Soňa Franková ◽  
Jan Šperl

Portal hypertension represents a wide spectrum of complications of chronic liver diseases and may present by ascites, oesophageal varices, splenomegaly, hypersplenism, hepatorenal and hepatopulmonary syndrome or portopulmonary hypertension. Portal hypertension and its severity predicts the patient‘s prognosis: as an invasive technique, the portosystemic gradient (HPVG – hepatic venous pressure gradient) measurement by hepatic veins catheterisation has remained the gold standard of its assessment. A reliable, non-invasive method to assess the severity of portal hypertension is of paramount importance; the patients with clinically significant portal hypertension have a high risk of variceal bleeding and higher mortality. Recently, non-invasive methods enabling the assessment of liver stiffness have been introduced into clinical practice in hepatology. Not only may these methods substitute for liver biopsy, but they may also be used to assess the degree of liver fibrosis and predict the severity of portal hypertension. Nowadays, we can use the quantitative elastography (transient elastography, point shear-wave elastrography, 2D-shear-wave elastography) or magnetic resonance imaging. We may also assess the severity of portal hypertension based on the non-invasive markers of liver fibrosis (i.e. ELF test) or estimate clinically signifi cant portal hypertension using composite scores (LSPS – liver spleen stiff ness score), based on liver stiffness value, spleen diameter and platelet count. Spleen stiffness measurement is a new method that needs further prospective studies. The review describes current possibilities of the non-invasive assessment of portal hypertension and its severity.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document