ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — A new study in HEPATOLOGY, the premier journal in the field of liver disease, reports that a noninvasive imaging test may perform as well as a liver biopsy in predicting serious liver-related outcomes in metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).
Findings from the article “Head-to-Head Comparison Between Vibration-Controlled Transient Elastography and Histology in Predicting Liver-Related Events Due to Metabolic Dysfunction–Associated Steatotic Liver Disease” suggest that vibration-controlled transient elastography, a liver stiffness measurement, could offer a less invasive, yet just as reliable, alternative for assessing disease prognosis.
Members of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Laurent Castera, MD, PhD, FAASLD of Université Paris Cité, Beaujon Hospital, Clichy, France, Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and coauthors analyzed data from 3,532 patients and found that both methods had similar accuracy in predicting liver-related events such as hepatic decompensation, liver transplantation, or liver-related death.
“Previous head-to-head comparisons with liver histology were limited by small sample size,” said Dr. Castera. “This is among the first studies of its kind to show that liver stiffness measurement can serve as a viable alternative endpoint in clinical trials. Similar results were found across all the outcomes, time points, and sensitivity analyses.”
“With rates of MASLD increasing globally, diagnosis, risk stratification, and treatment is an ever-growing public health concern,” said Dr. Yip. “Having a noninvasive evaluation tool may allow for more individuals to be screened and increase participation in clinical trials.”
Together, these findings support the growing role of noninvasive technologies in advancing MASLD research and improving patient care. By lowering barriers to screening and trial participation, broader use of liver stiffness measurement could enable more patients to enroll in clinical studies, accelerating the development of future treatments.
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About AASLD
The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) is the leading organization of scientists and health care professionals dedicated to preventing and curing liver disease. AASLD advances the science and practice of hepatology through research, professional education, clinical guidance, publishing, and global collaboration. Learn more at www.aasld.org.
About HEPATOLOGY
HEPATOLOGY publishes original, peer-reviewed articles on all aspects of liver structure, function, and disease. Each month, the journal highlights high-impact research spanning immunology, chronic hepatitis, viral hepatitis, cirrhosis, metabolic liver diseases, liver cancer, alcohol-associated liver disease, and drug metabolism.