Inflammatory activity affects the accuracy of liver stiffness measurement by transient elastography but not by two-dimensional shear wave elastography in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract

Background: In patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the impact of the severity of steatosis and inflammatory activity on the accuracy of liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by transient elastography (TE) and by two-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) in staging liver fibrosis is still debated and scarce. We aimed to focus on this aspect. Methods: We prospectively studied 104 patients requiring biopsy for the assessment of NAFLD. We used ordinary least squares regression to test for differences in the association between fibrosis and LSM by TE and 2D-SWE when other factors (steatosis and inflammatory activity) are considered. Results: Among 104 patients, 102 had reliable LSM by TE, and 88 had valid LSM by 2D-SWE. The association between fibrosis based on histology and LSM was significantly stronger when 2D-SWE assessed LSM compared to TE (Spearman's correlation coefficient of.71; P