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Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical value of two-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) in evaluating liver f ibrosis staging in patients with chronic liver disease at dif ferent alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. Methods The clinical data of 422 patients with chronic liver disease who were diagnosed by liver needle biopsy at Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University from August 2018 to January 2024 were retrospectively analyzed. Liver stif fness measurement (LSM) was performed using 2D-SWE in all patients before liver tissue needle biopsy. Patients were divided into three groups according to liver fibrosis staging: < S2 staging group (272 cases), S2~S3 staging group (123 cases) and ≥ S4 staging group (27 cases). Each group was further subdivided into normal ALT group (0~40 U/L) and abnormal ALT group (> 40 U/L) based on ALT levels, and dif ferences in LSM between groups were compared. The diagnostic ef f icacy of LSM for liver f ibrosis ≥ S2 staging in patients with chronic liver disease (S0~S3 stage) at dif ferent ALT levels was analyzed by receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve. Results In < S2 staging group (median: 6.6 kPa vs. 5.8 kPa) and S2~S3 staging group (median: 10.6 kPa vs. 9.6 kPa), LSM values of patients with abnormal ALT were signif icantly higher than those of patients with normal ALT (Z = - 3.70, P < 0.001; Z = - 2.24, P = 0.03). No statistically signif icant dif ference in LSM value was observed between patients with normal ALT and those with abnormal ALT in ≥ S4 staging group (median: 16.8 kPa vs. 17.7 kPa; Z = - 0.70, P = 0.48). For chronic liver disease patients with normal ALT, the area under the ROC curve of LSM for diagnosing fibrosis ≥ stage S2 was 0.846 (95%CI: 0.79~0.90), with an optimal cut-of f value of 6.55 kPa, a sensitivity of 88.1%, and a specif icity of 68.3%. For chronic liver disease patients with abnormal ALT, the area under the ROC curve of LSM for diagnosing f ibrosis ≥ S2 stage was 0.826 (95%CI: 0.76~0.89), with an optimal cut-of f value of 9.95 kPa, a sensitivity of 62.5%, and a specif icity of 88.0%. Conclusions 2D-SWE demonstrated signif icant value in the staging of liver f ibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease. However, elevated ALT might cause false-positive LSM increases in S0~S3 stage, and it is recommended to adopt ALT-adjusted diagnostic thresholds to improve staging accuracy. The impact of ALT on LSM in ≥ S4 stage might be attenuated or present dif ferent patterns along with changes in fibrotic microenvironment, which needed to be verif ied by further large-sample studies.
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