Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging to aid clinical decision making in autoimmune hepatitis
Michael A Heneghan, Elizabeth Shumbayawonda, Andrea Dennis, Refah Z Ahmed, Mussarat N Rahim, Michael Ney, Loren Smith, Matt Kelly, Rajarshi Banerjee, Emma L Culver, Michael A Heneghan, Elizabeth Shumbayawonda, Andrea Dennis, Refah Z Ahmed, Mussarat N Rahim, Michael Ney, Loren Smith, Matt Kelly, Rajarshi Banerjee, Emma L Culver
Abstract
Background: In autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), clinical practice and treatment guidelines frequently diverge as a reflection of disease heterogeneity and challenges in achieving standardised care. We sought to explore the utility of multiparametric (mp) MR in patients with AIH, and the impact of this technology on physicians' decision making and intended patient management.
Methods: 82 AIH patients, recruited from two sites between June and November 2019 as part of an observational cohort study, underwent non-contrast MRI alongside their standard clinical investigations. Correlations between iron-corrected T1 (cT1) and other markers of disease were investigated alongside the utility of imaging markers to risk stratify patients in biochemical remission. The impact of mpMR on clinical decision making was evaluated using pairwise t-tests. The discriminatory ability of the imaging markers was assessed using area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs).
Findings: cT1 had a significant impact on clinician intended patient management (p<0.0001). cT1 correlated with ALT (p = 0.0005), AST (p<0.001), IgG (p = 0.0005), and liver stiffness (p<0.0001). Patients in deep biochemical remission (N = 11; AST/ALT <50% upper limit of normal [ULN] and IgG <12 g/L) had low cT1, while 7/34 in normal biochemical remission (AST/ALT between 50 and 100% of ULN) had high cT1 and were at risk of disease flare. cT1 measures of disease heterogeneity, ALP and bilirubin made the best predictor of those not in biochemical remission (AUC:0.85).
Interpretation: This study investigates the impact of mpMR results on intended clinical management in a real world setting. Findings showed that mpMR demonstrated a significant impact on clinical management of AIH and has the potential to inform patient risk stratification.
Funding: This paper presents independent research supported by the Innovate UK grant (104,915).
Keywords: Fibro-inflammation; Non-invasive imaging; Remission; Stratification; cT1.
Conflict of interest statement
ES, AD, MK and RB are employees of Perspectum. Perspectum Ltd is a privately funded commercial enterprise that develops medical devices to address unmet clinical needs, including LiverMultiScan®. MAH, RZA, MNR, MN, LS and ELC have no conflicts of interest to declare.
© 2022 The Authors.
Figures
References
- Heneghan M.A., Yeoman A.D., Verma S., Smith A.D., Longhi M.S. Autoimmune hepatitis. Lancet. 2013;382:1433. –1z44.
- van den Brand F.F., van der Veen K.S., Lissenberg-Witte B.I., et al. Adverse events related to low dose corticosteroids in autoimmune hepatitis. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2019;50:1120–1126.
- Gleeson D., Heneghan M. British society of gastroenterology (BSG) guidelines for management of autoimmune hepatitis. Gut. 2011;60:1611–1629.
- European Association for the Study of the Liver. EASL Clinical practice guidelines: autoimmune hepatitis. J Hepatol. 2015;63:971–1004.
- Mack C., Adams D., Assis D.N., et al. Diagnosis and management of autoimmune hepatitis in adults and children: 2019 practice guidance and guidelines from the American association for the study of liver diseases. Hepatology. 2019 doi: 10.1002/hep.31065:1-119.
- Manns M., Czaja A., Gorham J., Krawitt E., Mieli-Vergani G., Vergani D. Diagnosis and management of autoimmune hepatitis. Hepatology. 2010;51:2193–2213.
- Dyson J.K., Wong L.L., Bigirumurame T., et al. Inequity of care provision and outcome disparity in autoimmune hepatitis in the United Kingdom. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2018;48:951–960.
- Poynard T., Banerjee R., Sellwood J., et al. Relative performances of FibroTest, Fibroscan, and biopsy for the assessment of the stage of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C: a step toward the truth in the absence of a gold standard. J Hepatol. 2012;56:541–548.
- Wai C., Greenson J., Fontana R., et al. A simple noninvasive index can predict both significant fibrosis and cirrhosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology. 2003;38:518–526.
- Shah A., Lydecker A., Murray K., Tetri B., Contos M., Sanyal A. Comparison of noninvasive markers of fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2009;7:1104–1112.
- Parkes J., Guha I., Roderick P., et al. Enhanced liver fibrosis (ELF) test accurately identifies liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C. J Viral Hepat. 2011;18:23–31.
- Messroghli D.R., Moon J.C., Ferreira V.M., et al. Clinical recommendations for cardiovascular magnetic resonance mapping of T1, T2, T2* and extracellular volume: a consensus statement by the society for cardiovascular magnetic resonance (SCMR) endorsed by the European Association for cardiovascular imaging (EACVI) J Cardiovasc Magn Reson. 2017;19:75.
- Marino M.A., Helbich T., Baltzer P., Pinker-Domenig K. Multiparametric MRI of the breast: a review. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2018;47:301–315.
- Bjurlin M.A., Carroll P.R., Eggener S., et al. Update of the standard operating procedure on the use of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging for the diagnosis, staging and management of prostate cancer. J Urol. 2020;203:706–712.
- Banerjee R., Pavlides M., Tunnicliffe E., et al. Multiparametric magnetic resonance for the non-invasive diagnosis of liver disease. J Hepatol. 2014;60:69–77.
- Pavlides M., Banerjee R., Tunnicliffe E., et al. Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging for the assessment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease severity. Liver Int. 2017;37:1065–1073.
- Bradley C.R., Cox E.F., Scott R.A., et al. Multi-organ assessment of compensated cirrhosis patients using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging. J Hepatol. 2018;69:1015–1024.
- Everett R.J., Treibel T.A., Fukui M., et al. Extracellular myocardial volume in patients with aortic stenosis. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2020;75:304–316.
- Bachtiar V., Kelly M., Wilman H., et al. Repeatability and reproducibility of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging of the liver. PLoS ONE. 2019;14
- Harrison S., Dennis A., Fiore M., et al. Utility and variability of three non-invasive liver fibrosis imaging modalities to evaluate efficacy of GR-MD-02 in subjects with NASH and bridging fibrosis during a phase-2 randomized clinical trial. PLoS ONE. 2018;13
- Eddowes P., McDonald N., Davies N., et al. Utility and cost evaluation of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging for the assessment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2018;47:631–644.
- McDonald N., Eddowes P., Hodson J., et al. Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging for quantification of liver disease: a two-centre cross-sectional observational study. Sci Rep. 2018;8:9189.
- Blake L., Duarte R.V., Cummins C. Decision analytic model of the diagnostic pathways for patients with suspected non-alcoholic fatty liver disease using non-invasive transient elastography and multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging. BMJ Open. 2016;6
- Harrison S., Rossi S., Paredes A., et al. NGM282 improves liver fibrosis and histology in 12 weeks in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Hepatology. 2020;71:1198–1212.
- Arndtz K., Shumbayawond E., Hodson J., et al. Multiparametric MRI imaging, autoimmune hepatitis, and prediction of disease activity. Hepatol Commun. 2021 doi: 10.1002/hep4.1687.
- Alvarez F., Berg P.A., Bianchi F.B., et al. International autoimmune hepatitis group report: review of criteria for diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis. J Hepatol. 1999;31:929–938.
- Hennes E.M., Zeniya M., Czaja A.J., et al. Simplified criteria for the diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis. Hepatology. 2008;48:169–176.
- Hartl J., Hanno E., Weiler-Normann C., et al. Patient selection based on treatment duration and liver biochemistry increases success rates after treatment withdrawal in autoimmune hepatitis. J Hepatol. 2015;62:642–646.
- Janowski K., Shumbayawonda E., Dennis A., et al. Multiparametric MRI as a non-invasive monitoring tool for children with autoimmune hepatitis. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2021;72(1):108–114. Jan 1.
- Terziroli Beretta-Piccoli B., Mieli-Vergani G., Vergani D. Autoimmune hepatitis: standard treatment and systematic review of alternative treatments. World J Gastroenterol. 2017;23:6030–6048.
- Hartl J., Ehken H., Sebode M., et al. Usefulness of biochemical remission and transient elastography in monitoring disease course in autoimmune hepatitis. J Hepatol. 2018;68:754–763.
- Venkatesh S., Yin M., Ehman R. Magnetic resonance elastography of liver: technique, analysis, and clinical applications. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2013;37:544–555.
- Loomba R., Wolfson T., Ang B., et al. Magnetic resonance elastography predicts advanced fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a prospective study. Hepatology. 2014;60:1920–1928.
- Karlas T., Pfrepper C., Rosendahl J., et al. Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography in acute liver failure: necrosis mimics cirrhosis. Z Gastroenterol. 2011;49:443–448.
- Bota S., Herkner H., Sporea I., et al. Meta-analysis: ARFI elastography versus transient elastography for the evaluation of liver fibrosis. Liver Int. 2013;33:1138–1147.
- Morishita N., Hiramatsu N., Oze T., et al. Liver stiffness measurement by acoustic radiation force impulse is useful in predicting the presence of esophageal varices or high-risk esophageal varices among patients with HCV-related cirrhosis. J Gastroenterol. 2014;49:1175–1182.
- Rider O., Banerjee R., Rayner J., et al. Investigating a liver fat: arterial stiffening pathway in adult and childhood obesity. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2016;36:198–203.
- Pavlides M., Banerjee R., Sellwood J., et al. Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging predicts clinical outcomes in patients with chronic liver disease. J Hepatol. 2016;64:308–315.
- Yuan X., Duan S.Z., Cao J., Gao N., Xu J., Zhang L. Noninvasive inflammatory markers for assessing liver fibrosis stage in autoimmune hepatitis patients. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2019;31:1467–1474.
- Heneghan M.A., Allan M.L., Bornstein J.D., Muir A.J., Tendler D.A. Utility of thiopurine methyltransferase genotyping and phenotyping, and measurement of azathioprine metabolites in the management of patients with autoimmune hepatitis. J Hepatol. 2006;45:584–591.
Source: PubMed