MR elastography is effective for the non-invasive evaluation of fibrosis and necroinflammatory activity in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

• Published in: European journal of radiology 2018-01, Vol.98, p.82-89
• Main Authors: Costa-Silva, Luciana, Ferolla, Silvia Marinho, Lima, Agnaldo Soares, Vidigal, Paula Vieira Teixeira, Ferrari, Teresa Cristina de Abreu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Hepatic steatosis; Liver fibrosis; Magnetic resonance elastography; Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; Steatohepatitis
• ISSN: 0720-048X; 1872-7727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2017.11.003

•MRE is effective in evaluating fibrosis and necroinflammatory activity in NAFLD.•MRE was useful in the staging of liver fibrosis in NAFLD patients.•MRE shows a strong correlation with the histological stages of liver fibrosis.•Significant differences were observed in liver stiffness between steatosis versus NASH.•Liver stiffness is an additional parameter in evaluating fibrosis progression. To evaluate the performance of magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) in diagnosing and staging hepatic fibrosis in patients with histologically confirmed nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and in distinguishing simple steatosis from nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Ninety subjects (49 NAFLD patients and 41 healthy volunteers) were prospectively enrolled. Liver stiffness measured by MRE was correlated with the grade of fibrosis and/or inflammation determined by liver biopsy. Correlations, ROC (receiver operator characteristic) curves and diagnostic performance were evaluated. The study was approved by the local ethics committee. The area under the ROC curve (AUROC) of MRE in discriminating healthy from NAFLD individuals was 0.964 (P