DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i07.015

Pages: 2562-2566

Introduction: Liver stiffness (LS) assessed by means of Ultrasound elastography can safely replace liver biopsy in several clinical scenarios, particularly in patients with chronic viral hepatitis. However, an increase of LS may be due to some other clinical conditions not related to fibrosis, such as liver inflammation, acute hepatitis, obstructive cholestasis, liver congestion, infiltrative liver diseases. Material and Methods: This is a prospective and observational study was conducted in Department of Radiology at a Tertiary care teaching Hospital over a period of 6 months. Inclusion criteria: Patients of either gender between age group 30 to 60 years. Elevated liver enzymes. Exclusion criteria: Biopsy samples smaller than 15 mm. Hepatic transplant patients in last 6 months. Coagulation disorders and risk of bleeding following biopsy. Patients with biopsy results did not meet the required quality criteria. Result: In our study, the most of the patients the age group of 41-60 years i.e., 39 out of 70 (55.7%), followed by 21-40 years, i.e., 23 out of 70 (32.8%). Maximum number of patients were male 51 (72.8%) and female 19 (27.1%) in our study. The METAVIR fibrosis grades were as follows: F0-F1 = 37 (52.8%); F2 = 13 (18.5%); F3 = 9 (12.8%); F4.1 = 7 (10%); F4.2 = 4 (5.7%). Total 19 patients experienced one or more Liver-related events; the first Liver-related events were: 17 hepatic decompensations (3 variceal bleeding, 3 ascites, 5 Hepatic encephalopathy, 4 Jaundice, 1 Hepatorenal syndrome and 1 Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis), 1 hepatocellular carcinomas. Conclusions: Liver stiffness by TE accurately predicts the risk of death or hepatic complications in patients with chronic liver disease. TE may facilitate the estimation of prognosis and guide management of these patients.