TY - JOUR
T1 - Hepatic inflammation may influence liver stiffness measurements by transient elastography in children and young adults
AU - Raizner, Aileen
AU - Shillingford, Nick
AU - Mitchell, Paul D.
AU - Harney, Sarah
AU - Raza, Roshan
AU - Serino, Jessica
AU - Jonas, Maureen M.
AU - Lee, Christine K.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2017 by ESPGHAN and NASPGHAN.
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - Objectives: Transient elastography (TE) measures liver stiffness to assess fibrosis. Studies in adults have shown that inflammation increases stiffness, leading to an overestimation of fibrosis. We investigated the contribution of inflammation to liver stiffness measurements (LSMs) in children/young adults. Methods: This was a cohort analysis of children/young adults who underwent TE within 1 year of liver biopsy. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was obtained within 30 days of the biopsy and LSM. Fibrosis was assessed by METAVIR stage and inflammation by ALT and Ishak score. Data were stratified into METAVIR F0-F2 versus F3-F4. Change between ALT and LSM over time was also assessed. Results: A total of 154 patients (50% male patients) ages 3 weeks to 24 years (18% <3 years) were studied. Diagnoses included autoimmune (N=38, 25%), viral (N=25, 16%), cholestasis (N=17, 11%), fatty liver (N=9, 6%), biliary atresia (N=8, 5%), metabolic (N=5, 3%), allograft rejection (N=4, 3%), and other (N=48, 31%). Thirty-four percent of patients had F3-F4. In patients with F0-F2, the proportion of those with LSM >8.6 kPa increased with increasing ALT (P=0.002). In patients with F3-F4, there was no association between ALT and LSM (P=0.17). A correlation between change in ALT and LSM was observed in patients with no/minimal fibrosis and inflammatory liver diseases (r=0.33). Conclusions: In children with no/minimal hepatic fibrosis and inflammatory liver disease, high ALT values are associated with LSM in the range typical of advanced fibrosis. However, with more advanced fibrosis, inflammation does not appear to contribute to LSM. Caution must be taken when interpreting LSM for assessing fibrosis severity in the setting of inflammation.
AB - Objectives: Transient elastography (TE) measures liver stiffness to assess fibrosis. Studies in adults have shown that inflammation increases stiffness, leading to an overestimation of fibrosis. We investigated the contribution of inflammation to liver stiffness measurements (LSMs) in children/young adults. Methods: This was a cohort analysis of children/young adults who underwent TE within 1 year of liver biopsy. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was obtained within 30 days of the biopsy and LSM. Fibrosis was assessed by METAVIR stage and inflammation by ALT and Ishak score. Data were stratified into METAVIR F0-F2 versus F3-F4. Change between ALT and LSM over time was also assessed. Results: A total of 154 patients (50% male patients) ages 3 weeks to 24 years (18% <3 years) were studied. Diagnoses included autoimmune (N=38, 25%), viral (N=25, 16%), cholestasis (N=17, 11%), fatty liver (N=9, 6%), biliary atresia (N=8, 5%), metabolic (N=5, 3%), allograft rejection (N=4, 3%), and other (N=48, 31%). Thirty-four percent of patients had F3-F4. In patients with F0-F2, the proportion of those with LSM >8.6 kPa increased with increasing ALT (P=0.002). In patients with F3-F4, there was no association between ALT and LSM (P=0.17). A correlation between change in ALT and LSM was observed in patients with no/minimal fibrosis and inflammatory liver diseases (r=0.33). Conclusions: In children with no/minimal hepatic fibrosis and inflammatory liver disease, high ALT values are associated with LSM in the range typical of advanced fibrosis. However, with more advanced fibrosis, inflammation does not appear to contribute to LSM. Caution must be taken when interpreting LSM for assessing fibrosis severity in the setting of inflammation.
KW - hepatitis
KW - liver disease
KW - liver fibrosis
KW - pediatrics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84983036450&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84983036450&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/MPG.0000000000001376
DO - 10.1097/MPG.0000000000001376
M3 - Article
C2 - 27540711
AN - SCOPUS:84983036450
SN - 0277-2116
VL - 64
SP - 512
EP - 517
JO - Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition
JF - Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition
IS - 4
ER -