Effect of liver steatosis on liver stiffness measurement in chronic hepatitis B patients with normal serum alanine aminotransferase levels: A multicenter cohort study
Wang XD, Pan CW, Zhou GY, et al
Journal of Viral Hepatitis|December 15, 2021
In chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with normal serum alanine aminotransferase levels, transient elastography-measured liver stiffness measurement (LSM) is not significantly affected by liver steatosis.
This study involved 755 CHB patients with normal serum alanine aminotransferase levels, who underwent vibration-controlled transient elastography and liver biopsy; of these, 286 (37.9%) had liver steatosis.
Existence of liver steatosis was found to be independently linked with greater body mass index (BMI), and higher serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
No significant link was found between liver steatosis and fibrosis stage (odds ratio=1.016).
Factors independently linked with higher LSM included: age, BMI, serum gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase, positivity for HBeAg, as well as liver fibrosis stage, and inflammation activity grade, while there was no significant link between degree of liver steatosis and LSM.
In cases with the same histologic fibrosis stage, no significant difference in LSM values was seen among those with absent, mild, moderate, or severe steatosis.