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Cutoff Values for Alcoholic Liver Fibrosis Using Magnetic Resonance Elastography Technique
Author(s) -
Bensamoun Sabine F.,
Leclerc Gwladys E.,
Debernard Laëtitia,
Cheng Xiaobin,
Robert Ludovic,
Charleux Fabrice,
Rhein Colette,
Latrive JeanPaul
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.12025
Subject(s) - magnetic resonance elastography , cutoff , receiver operating characteristic , elastography , medicine , gold standard (test) , liver biopsy , asymptomatic , magnetic resonance imaging , fibrosis , liver fibrosis , radiology , nuclear medicine , biopsy , ultrasound , pathology , physics , quantum mechanics
Background Due to the lack of cutoff values validated for specific liver diseases, the purpose of this study was to set up specific magnetic resonance elastography ( MRE ) cutoff values for asymptomatic liver fibrosis in alcoholic patients. Methods Ninety patients underwent 3 clinical exams. The liver stiffness was measured locally with the F ibroscan, and globally through cartographies of shear modulus generated with MRE . The F ibroscan method was chosen as the gold standard to classify the fibrosis. The liver score was also obtained with the F ibrometer A , and the diagnostic performance of the methods was analyzed with receiver‐operating characteristic ( ROC ) curves and cutoff values were calculated. Results Spearman correlation and area under the ROC curve revealed that MRE is a better diagnostic method than the F ibrometer A , to identify various levels of fibrosis. The results showed that the F ibrometer A was adapted for severe fibrosis. The MRE cutoff values are F1:2.20 kPa, F2:2.57 kPa, F3:3.31 kPa, and F4:4 kPa and were not influenced by the glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase level. By using the ultrasound cutoff values attributed for alcoholism, 66% of patients had a similar liver fibrosis diagnosis as the MRE cutoffs. However, both imaging techniques did not provide the same distribution for minor fibrosis. Conclusions None of the imaging techniques ( F ibroscan, MRE ) could replace the gold standard of the biopsy. However, due to the risk and the unnecessary procedure for the present recruited alcoholic patients, the F ibroscan method was chosen as the reference. Since MRE is currently being used as a clinical exam, the present MRE cutoffs could aid clinicians with their diagnosis of liver fibrosis for alcoholism disease.