The clinical utility of FibroScan(®) as a noninvasive diagnostic test for liver disease

Julius Wilder, Keyur Patel, Julius Wilder, Keyur Patel

Abstract

An important aspect of managing chronic liver disease is assessing for evidence of fibrosis. Historically, this has been accomplished using liver biopsy, which is an invasive procedure associated with risk for complications and significant sampling and observer error, limiting the accuracy for determination of fibrosis stage. Hence, several serum biomarkers and imaging methods for noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis have been developed. In this article, we review the current literature on an important noninvasive imaging modality to measure tissue elastography (FibroScan(®)). This ultrasound-based technique is now increasingly available in many countries and has been shown to be a reliable and safe noninvasive means of assessing disease severity in chronic liver disease of varying etiology.

Keywords: cirrhosis; elastography; fibrosis; ultrasound.

References

    1. Cadranel JF, Rufat P, Degos F. Practices of liver biopsy in France: results of a prospective nationwide survey. For the Group of Epidemiology of the French Association for the Study of the Liver (AFEF) Hepatology. 2000;32(3):477–481.
    1. Afdhal NH. Diagnosing fibrosis in hepatitis C: is the pendulum swinging from biopsy to blood tests? Hepatology. 2003;37(5):972–974.
    1. Regev A, Berho M, Jeffers LJ, et al. Sampling error and intraobserver variation in liver biopsy in patients with chronic HCV infection. Am J Gastroenterol. 2002;97(10):2614–2618.
    1. Castera L. Noninvasive methods to assess liver disease in patients with hepatitis B or C. Gastroenterology. 2012;142(6):1293–1302. e4.
    1. Castera L, Vilgrain V, Angulo P. Noninvasive evaluation of NAFLD. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2013;10(11):666–675.
    1. Venkatesh SK, Yin M, Ehman RL. Magnetic resonance elastography of liver: technique, analysis, and clinical applications. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2013;37(3):544–555.
    1. Benedito J, Carcel J, Clemente G, Mulet A. Cheese maturity assessment using ultrasonics. J Dairy Sci. 2000;83(2):248–254.
    1. Sandrin L, Fourquet B, Hasquenoph JM, et al. Transient elastography: a new noninvasive method for assessment of hepatic fibrosis. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2003;29(12):1705–1713.
    1. Castera L, Forns X, Alberti A. Non-invasive evaluation of liver fibrosis using transient elastography. J Hepatol. 2008;48(5):835–847.
    1. Konofagou EE. Quo vadis elasticity imaging? Ultrasonics. 2004;42(1–9):331–336.
    1. Stasi C, Arena U, Vizzutti F, et al. Transient elastography for the assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis: the missing tool? Dig Liver Dis. 2009;41(12):863–866.
    1. Arena U, Lupsor Platon M, Stasi C, et al. Liver stiffness is influenced by a standardized meal in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus at different stages of fibrotic evolution. Hepatology. 2013;58(1):65–72.
    1. Ziol M, Handra-Luca A, Kettaneh A, et al. Noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis by measurement of stiffness in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology. 2005;41(1):48–54.
    1. Beaugrand M. Fibroscan: instructions for use. Gastroenterol Clin Biol. 2006;30(4):513–514. French.
    1. Canavan C, Eisenburg J, Meng L, Corey K, Hur C. Ultrasound elastography for fibrosis surveillance is cost effective in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus in the UK. Dig Dis Sci. 2013;58(9):2691–2704.
    1. Foucher J, Castéra L, Bernard PH, et al. Prevalence and factors associated with failure of liver stiffness measurement using FibroScan in a prospective study of 2114 examinations. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2006;18(4):411–412.
    1. Myers RP, Pomier-Layrargues G, Kirsch R, et al. Discordance in fibrosis staging between liver biopsy and transient elastography using the FibroScan XL probe. J Hepatol. 2012;56(3):564–570.
    1. Pradhan F, Ladak F, Tracey J, Crotty P, Myers RP. Feasibility and reliability of the FibroScan S2 (pediatric) probe compared with the M probe for liver stiffness measurement in small adults with chronic liver disease. Ann Hepatol. 2013;12(1):100–107.
    1. Tapper EB, Cohen EB, Patel K, et al. Levels of alanine aminotransferase confound use of transient elastography to diagnose fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2012;10(8):932–937. e1.
    1. Coco B, Oliveri F, Maina AM, et al. Transient elastography: a new surrogate marker of liver fibrosis influenced by major changes of transaminases. J Viral Hepat. 2007;14(5):360–369.
    1. Roulot D, Czernichow S, Le Clésiau H, Costes JL, Vergnaud AC, Beaugrand M. Liver stiffness values in apparently healthy subjects: influence of gender and metabolic syndrome. J Hepatol. 2008;48(4):606–613.
    1. Lebray P, Varnous S, Charlotte F, Varaut A, Poynard T, Ratziu V. Liver stiffness is an unreliable marker of liver fibrosis in patients with cardiac insufficiency. Hepatology. 2008;48(6):2089.
    1. Millonig G, Reimann FM, Friedrich S, et al. Extrahepatic cholestasis increases liver stiffness (FibroScan) irrespective of fibrosis. Hepatology. 2008;48(5):1718–1723.
    1. Kettaneh A, Marcellin P, Douvin C, et al. Features associated with success rate and performance of FibroScan measurements for the diagnosis of cirrhosis in HCV patients: a prospective study of 935 patients. J Hepatol. 2007;46(4):628–634.
    1. Fraquelli M, Rigamonti C, Casazza G, et al. Reproducibility of transient elastography in the evaluation of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease. Gut. 2007;56(7):968–973.
    1. Kim KM, Choi WB, Park SH, et al. Diagnosis of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis by transient elastography in asymptomatic healthy individuals: a prospective study of living related potential liver donors. J Gastroenterol. 2007;42(5):382–388.
    1. Soloperto G, Conversano F, Greco A, Casciaro E, Franchini R, Casciaro S. Advanced spectral analyses for real-time automatic echographic tissue-typing of simulated tumor masses at different compression stages. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2012;59(12):2692–2701.
    1. Moradi M, Abolmaesumi P, Mousavi P. Tissue typing using ultrasound RF time series: experiments with animal tissue samples. Med Phys. 2010;37(8):4401–4413.
    1. Friedrich-Rust M, Ong MF, Martens S, et al. Performance of transient elastography for the staging of liver fibrosis: a meta-analysis. Gastroenterology. 2008;134(4):960–974.
    1. Arena U, Vizzutti F, Abraldes JG, et al. Reliability of transient elastography for the diagnosis of advanced fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C. Gut. 2008;57(9):1288–1293.
    1. Colletta C, Smirne C, Fabris C, et al. Value of two noninvasive methods to detect progression of fibrosis among HCV carriers with normal aminotransferases. Hepatology. 2005;42(4):838–845.
    1. Corradi F, Piscaglia F, Flori S, et al. Bologna Liver Transplantation Group Assessment of liver fibrosis in transplant recipients with recurrent HCV infection: usefulness of transient elastography. Dig Liver Dis. 2009;41(3):217–225.
    1. Castera L, Pinzani M, Bosch J. Non invasive evaluation of portal hypertension using transient elastography. J Hepatol. 2012;56(3):696–703.
    1. Berzigotti A, Seijo S, Arena U, et al. Elastography, spleen size, and platelet count identify portal hypertension in patients with compensated cirrhosis. Gastroenterology. 2013;144(1):102–111. e1.
    1. Sharma P, Kirnake V, Tyagi P, et al. Spleen stiffness in patients with cirrhosis in predicting esophageal varices. Am J Gastroenterol. 2013;108(7):1101–1107.
    1. Colecchia A, Montrone L, Scaioli E, et al. Measurement of spleen stiffness to evaluate portal hypertension and the presence of esophageal varices in patients with HCV-related cirrhosis. Gastroenterology. 2012;143(3):646–654.
    1. Vergniol J, Foucher J, Terrebonne E, et al. Noninvasive tests for fibrosis and liver stiffness predict 5-year outcomes of patients with chronic hepatitis C. Gastroenterology. 2011;140(7):1970–1979. 1979. e1–3.
    1. Singh S, Fujii LL, Murad MH, et al. Liver stiffness is associated with risk of decompensation, liver cancer, and death in patients with chronic liver diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2013;11(12):1573–1584. e1.
    1. Gómez-Domínguez E, Mendoza J, Rubio S, Moreno-Monteagudo JA, García-Buey L, Moreno-Otero R. Transient elastography: a valid alternative to biopsy in patients with chronic liver disease. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2006;24(3):513–518.
    1. de Lédinghen V, Douvin C, Kettaneh A, et al. Diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis by transient elastography in HIV/hepatitis C virus- coinfected patients. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2006;41(2):175–179.
    1. Vergara S, Macías J, Rivero A, et al. Grupo para el Estudio de las Hepatitis Viricas de la SAEI The use of transient elastometry for assessing liver fibrosis in patients with HIV and hepatitis C virus coinfection. Clin Infect Dis. 2007;45(8):969–974.
    1. Corpechot C, El Naggar A, Poujol-Robert A, et al. Assessment of biliary fibrosis by transient elastography in patients with PBC and PSC. Hepatology. 2006;43(5):1118–1124.
    1. Yoneda M, Fujita K, Inamori M, et al. Transient elastography in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) Gut. 2007;56(9):1330–1331.
    1. Marcellin P dLV, Dhumeaux D, Poupon R, Ziol M, Bedossa P, et al. Non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B using FibroScan. Abstract presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, San Francisco, USA, November 11–15, 2005. Hepatology. 2005;42(Suppl 1):715A–716A.
    1. Carosi G, Rizzetto M. Treatment of chronic hepatitis B: recommendations from an Italian workshop. Dig Liver Dis. 2008;40(8):603–617.
    1. Ganne-Carrié N, Ziol M, de Ledinghen V, et al. Accuracy of liver stiffness measurement for the diagnosis of cirrhosis in patients with chronic liver diseases. Hepatology. 2006;44(6):1511–1517.
    1. Verveer C, Zondervan PE, ten Kate FJ, Hansen BE, Janssen HL, de Knegt RJ. Evaluation of transient elastography for fibrosis assessment compared with large biopsies in chronic hepatitis B and C. Liver Int. 2012;32(4):622–628.
    1. Cardoso AC, Carvalho-Filho RJ, Stern C, et al. Direct comparison of diagnostic performance of transient elastography in patients with chronic hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis C. Liver Int. 2012;32(4):612–621.
    1. Wong GL, Chan HL, Wong CK, et al. Liver stiffness-based optimization of hepatocellular carcinoma risk score in patients with chronic hepatitis B. J Hepatol. 2014;60(2):339–345.
    1. Corpechot C, Carrat F, Poujol-Robert A, et al. Noninvasive elastography-based assessment of liver fibrosis progression and prognosis in primary biliary cirrhosis. Hepatology. 2012;56(1):198–208.
    1. Corpechot C, Gaouar F, El Naggar A, et al. Baseline values and changes in liver stiffness, measured by transient elastography, are associated with fibrosis severity and outcomes of patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis. Gastroenterology. 2013 Dec 31; Epub.
    1. Gaia S, Carenzi S, Barilli AL, et al. Reliability of transient elastography for the detection of fibrosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and chronic viral hepatitis. J Hepatol. 2011;54(1):64–71.
    1. Andersen ES, Christensen PB, Weis N. Transient elastography for liver fibrosis diagnosis. Eur J Intern Med. 2009;20(4):339–342.

Source: PubMed

Спонсоры и соавторы

Заболевания

Медикаментозные вмешательства

Подписаться