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A review of the use of transient elastography in the assessment of fibrosis and steatosis in the post–liver transplant patient
Author(s) -
Winters Adam C.,
Mittal Rasham,
Schiano Thomas D.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
clinical transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.918
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1399-0012
pISSN - 0902-0063
DOI - 10.1111/ctr.13700
Subject(s) - transient elastography , medicine , steatosis , liver transplantation , liver biopsy , gold standard (test) , liver disease , fatty liver , fibrosis , biopsy , liver function tests , chronic liver disease , radiology , transplantation , gastroenterology , cirrhosis , disease
Liver biopsy is considered the gold standard method for diagnosing and staging liver disease, particularly in the post‐liver transplant setting. Given the invasive nature of biopsy, alternate means for accurately assessing liver fibrosis and steatosis are preferred especially as the number of patients with fatty liver disease is increasing. Transient elastography has been validated as a useful tool for evaluation of liver fibrosis, as has controlled attenuation parameter index as a tool for assessing steatosis. It is a non‐invasive, rapid, and highly reproducible approach to demonstrate the presence of fibrosis among non‐transplant patients with chronic liver disease of various etiologies. However, it has not yet found wide acceptance in liver transplant recipients. There are few published studies evaluating the merits and applicability of transient elastography to assess allografts after liver transplantation. We review the published data on the use of transient elastography with concurrent controlled attenuation parameter in liver transplant recipients and recommend its greater use to follow allograft function over time.