Development and Pilot Testing of Decision Aid for Shared Decision Making in Barrett's Esophagus With Low-Grade Dysplasia.

GOALS: To develop an encounter decision aid [Barrett's esophagus Choice (BE-Choice)] for patients and clinicians to engage in shared decision making (SDM) for management of BE with low-grade dysplasia (BE-LGD) and assess its impact on patient-important outcomes. BACKGROUND: Currently, there are 2 strategies for management of BE-LGD-endoscopic surveillance and ablation. SDM can help patients decide on their preferred management option. STUDY: Phase-I: Patients and clinicians were engaged in a user-centered design approach to develop BE-Choice. Phase-I included review of evidence on BE-LGD management, observation of usual care (UC), creation, field-testing, and iterative development of BE-Choice in clinical settings. Phase-II: Impact of BE-Choice on patient-important outcomes (patient knowledge, decisional conflict, and patient involvement in decision making) was assessed using a controlled before-after study design (UC vs. BE-Choice). RESULTS: Phase-I: Initial prototype was designed with observation of 8 clinical encounters. With field-testing, 3 successive iterations were made before finalizing BE-Choice. BE-Choice was paper based and fulfilled the qualifying criteria of International patient decision aid standards. Phase II: 29 patients were enrolled, 8 to UC and 21 to BE-Choice. Compared with UC, use of BE-Choice improved patient knowledge (90.4% vs. 70.5%; P=0.03), decisional comfort (89.6 vs. 71.9; P=0.01), and patient involvement (OPTION score: 27.1 vs. 19.2; P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: BE-Choice is a feasible and effective decision aid to promote SDM in the management of BE-LGD. On pilot testing, BE-Choice had promising impact on patient-important outcomes. A larger multicenter trial is needed to confirm our results and promote widespread use of BE-Choice.

Healthcare Cost and Utilization in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Real-World Data From a Large U.S. Claims Database.

The prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasing. The health care burden resulting from the multidisciplinary management of this complex disease is unknown. We assessed the total health care cost and resource utilization associated with a new NAFLD diagnosis, compared with controls with similar comorbidities. We used OptumLabs Data Warehouse, a large national administrative claims database with longitudinal health data of over 100 million individuals enrolled in private and Medicare Advantage health plans. We identified 152,064 adults with a first claim for NAFLD between 2010 and 2014, of which 108,420 were matched 1:1 by age, sex, metabolic comorbidities, length of follow-up, year of diagnosis, race, geographic region, and insurance type to non-NAFLD contemporary controls from the OptumLabs Data Warehouse database. Median follow-up time was 2.6 (range 1-6.5) years. The final study cohort consisted of 216,840 people with median age 55 (range 18-86) years, 53% female, 78% white. The total annual cost of care per NAFLD patient with private insurance was $7,804 (interquartile range [IQR] $3,068-$18,688) for a new diagnosis and $3,789 (IQR $1,176-$10,539) for long-term management. These costs are significantly higher than the total annual costs of $2,298 (IQR $681-$6,580) per matched control with similar metabolic comorbidities but without NAFLD. The largest increases in health care utilization that may account for the increased costs in NAFLD compared with controls are represented by liver biopsies (relative risk [RR] = 55.00, 95% confidence interval [CI] 24.48-123.59), imaging (RR = 3.95, 95% CI 3.77-4.15), and hospitalizations (RR = 1.87, 95% CI 1.73-2.02). Conclusion: The costs associated with the care for NAFLD independent of its metabolic comorbidities are very high, especially at first diagnosis. Research efforts shouldfocus on identification of underlying determinants of use, sources of excess cost, and development of cost-effective diagnostic tests.

Endoscopic ultrasound for rectal cancer staging: A population-based study of utilization, impact on treatment patterns, and survival.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Optimal rectal cancer (RC) outcomes depend on accurate locoregional staging. The study sought to describe the impact of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) on RC treatment patterns and survival. METHODS: Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database, the study identified patients with RC between 2005 and 2007. The study excluded patients with stage IV disease, those not enrolled in Medicare parts A and B, those enrolled in managed care, and those staged with pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (because of low numbers). The study then compared outcomes between patients who received EUS and computed tomography of the abdomen and pelvis (CTAP) to those staged with CTAP alone after propensity score matching. RESULTS: Between 2005 and 2007, we identified 3,408 nonmetastatic RC patients. Compared with patients staged with CTAP alone, those who received EUS and CTAP were younger (median age: 75 vs 76 years, P < 0.0001), more likely men (57.6% vs 48.7%, P < 0.0001), with a lower Charlson comorbidity index (P < 0.0001). Predictors of EUS included socioeconomic status (highest vs lowest) (odds ratio [OR] 1.87, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4-2.5), care by a gastroenterologist (OR 1.713, 95% CI 1.38-2.13), and care in a teaching hospital (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.35-2.08). Receipt of neoadjuvant chemoradiation was higher in EUS-staged patients (50.3% vs 16.0%, P < 0.0001). EUS-staged patients had longer overall survival compared with those staged with CTAP alone (60 vs 57 months), but this was not statistically significant (P = 0.24). CONCLUSION: Endoscopic ultrasound in RC staging is associated with higher utilization of neoadjuvant chemoradiation without a significant difference in overall survival.

Diagnostic Performance of MR Elastography and Vibration-controlled Transient Elastography in the Detection of Hepatic Fibrosis in Patients with Severe to Morbid Obesity.

Purpose To evaluate the diagnostic performance and examination success rate of magnetic resonance (MR) elastography and vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) in the detection of hepatic fibrosis in patients with severe to morbid obesity. Materials and Methods This prospective and HIPAA-compliant study was approved by the institutional review board. A total of 111 patients (71 women, 40 men) participated. Written informed consent was obtained from all patients. Patients underwent MR elastography with two readers and VCTE with three observers to acquire liver stiffness measurements for liver fibrosis assessment. The results were compared with those from liver biopsy. Each pathology specimen was evaluated by two hepatopathologists according to the METAVIR scoring system or Brunt classification when appropriate. All imaging observers were blinded to the biopsy results, and all hepatopathologists were blinded to the imaging results. Examination success rate, interobserver agreement, and diagnostic accuracy for fibrosis detection were assessed. Results In this obese patient population (mean body mass index = 40.3 kg/m2; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 38.7 kg/m2, 41.8 kg/m2]), the examination success rate was 95.8% (92 of 96 patients) for MR elastography and 81.3% (78 of 96 patients) or 88.5% (85 of 96 patients) for VCTE. Interobserver agreement was higher with MR elastography than with biopsy (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.95 vs 0.89). In patients with successful MR elastography and VCTE examinations (excluding unreliable VCTE examinations), both MR elastography and VCTE had excellent diagnostic accuracy in the detection of clinically significant hepatic fibrosis (stage F2-F4) (mean area under the curve: 0.93 [95% CI: 0.85, 0.97] vs 0.91 [95% CI: 0.83, 0.96]; P = .551). Conclusion In this obese patient population, both MR elastography and VCTE had excellent diagnostic performance for assessing hepatic fibrosis; MR elastography was more technically reliable than VCTE and had a higher interobserver agreement than liver biopsy. © RSNA, 2016 Online supplemental material is available for this article. An earlier incorrect version of this article appeared online. This article was corrected on January 25, 2017.

Strategies to Reduce Hospital Readmissions.

After the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or "Obamacare" was signed into law in 2010, the problem of readmission has taken on a new sense of urgency. Hospitals with excess readmissions receive reduced reimbursement because readmission is considered to represent a poor quality measure in the healthcare delivery system. Cirrhosis places a major burden on the healthcare economy. Patients with cirrhosis frequently require hospitalization, and annual admission rates have doubled within 10 years. The costs of hospitalization associated with cirrhosis have also markedly increased. Readmissions create negative consequences for the patient and the family. Several strategies have been proposed to reduce the number of readmissions, but the efficacy of these strategies is questionable. Although the Model for End-Stage of Liver Disease (MELD) score can be a tool for risk stratification, many other factors are also independent risks for readmission. Studies aimed at the reduction of readmission in patients with cirrhosis are very limited, and much research is required before specific recommendations can be made to reduce readmissions.

Secondary analysis of large databases for hepatology research.

Secondary analysis of large datasets involves the utilization of existing data that has typically been collected for other purposes to advance scientific knowledge. This is an established methodology applied in health services research with the unique advantage of efficiently identifying relationships between predictor and outcome variables but which has been underutilized for hepatology research. Our review of 1431 abstracts published in the 2013 European Association for the Study of Liver (EASL) abstract book showed that less than 0.5% of published abstracts utilized secondary analysis of large database methodologies. This review paper describes existing large datasets that can be exploited for secondary analyses in liver disease research. It also suggests potential questions that could be addressed using these data warehouses and highlights the strengths and limitations of each dataset as described by authors that have previously used them. The overall goal is to bring these datasets to the attention of readers and ultimately encourage the consideration of secondary analysis of large database methodologies for the advancement of hepatology.

African Americans Have Better Outcomes for Five Common Gastrointestinal Diagnoses in Hospitals With More Racially Diverse Patients.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to characterize the relationship between hospital inpatient racial diversity and outcomes for African-American patients including rates of major complications or mortality during hospitalization for five common gastrointestinal diagnoses. METHODS: Using the 2012 National Inpatient Sample database, hospital inpatient racial diversity was defined as the percentage of African-American patients discharged from each hospital. Logistic regression was used to predict major complication rates or death, long length of stay, and high total charges. Control variables included age, gender, payer type, patient location, area-associated income quartile, hospital characteristics including size, urban vs. rural, teaching vs. nonteaching, region, and the interaction of the percentage of African Americans with patient race. RESULTS: There were 848,395 discharges across 3,392 hospitals. The patient population was on average 27% minority (s.d.±21%) with African Americans accounting for 14% of all patients. Overall, African-American patients had higher rates of major complications or death relative to white patients (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.19; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16-1.23). However, when treated in hospitals with higher patient racial diversity, African-American patients experienced significantly lower rates of major complications or mortality (aOR 0.80; 95% CI 0.74-0.86). CONCLUSIONS: African Americans have better outcomes for five common gastrointestinal diagnoses when treated in hospitals with higher inpatient racial diversity. This has major ramifications on total hospital charges.

Hepatic MR Elastography: Clinical Performance in a Series of 1377 Consecutive Examinations.

PURPOSE: To assess the technical success rate and diagnostic performance of liver magnetic resonance (MR) elastography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board with patient informed consent. A total of 1377 consecutive MR elastography examinations performed between 2007 and 2010 in 1287 patients for clinical indications were included. Medical records were used to retrieve liver stiffness as assessed with MR elastography, histologic analysis, blood work, and other liver disease-related information. Nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis tests and analysis of covariance methods were used to evaluate the diagnostic values and relationships of the collected data. RESULTS: Hepatic MR elastography had a success rate of 94.4% (1300 of 1377 cases) and yielded reproducible measurements (r = 0.9716, P < .0001) in the study cohort, with a complex patient profile and multiple interpreters. Body mass index had no significant effect on success rate (P = .2). In 289 patients who underwent liver biopsy within 1 year of the MR elastography date, mean liver stiffness as assessed with MR elastography was significantly higher in patients with advanced fibrosis (stages F3, F4) than in those with mild to moderate fibrosis (stages F0, F1, F2) (5.93 kPa ± 2.31 [standard deviation] vs 3.35 kPa ± 1.44, P < .0001). Liver stiffness is associated with many factors other than fibrosis extent, including cause of fibrosis (viral hepatitis C vs nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, P = .025), inflammation (severe vs mild to moderate, P = .03), and hepatic metabolic and synthetic function (no fibrosis vs intermediate fibrosis, P ≤ .01). CONCLUSION: In a general clinical practice environment, hepatic MR elastography is a robust imaging method with a high success rate in a broad spectrum of patients. It also shows the complex association between liver stiffness and hepatic pathophysiology.

Magnetic resonance elastography for staging liver fibrosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a diagnostic accuracy systematic review and individual participant data pooled analysis.

OBJECTIVES: We conducted an individual participant data (IPD) pooled analysis on diagnostic accuracy of MRE to detect fibrosis stage in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS: Through a systematic literature search, we identified studies of MRE (at 60-62.5 Hz) for staging fibrosis in patients with NAFLD, using liver biopsy as gold standard, and contacted study authors for IPD. Through pooled analysis, we calculated the cluster-adjusted AUROC, sensitivity and specificity of MRE for any (≥stage 1), significant (≥stage 2) and advanced (≥stage 3) fibrosis and cirrhosis (stage 4). RESULTS: We included nine studies with 232 patients with NAFLD (mean age, 51 ± 13 years; 37.5% males; mean BMI, 33.5 ± 6.7 kg/m(2); interval between MRE and biopsy <1 year, 98.3%). Fibrosis stage distribution (stage 0/1/2/3/4) was 33.6, 32.3, 10.8, 12.9 and 10.4%, respectively. Mean AUROC (and 95% CIs) for diagnosis of any, significant or advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis was 0.86 (0.82-0.90), 0.87 (0.82-0.93), 0.90 (0.84-0.94) and 0.91 (0.76-0.95), respectively. Similar diagnostic performance was observed in stratified analysis based on sex, obesity and degree of inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: MRE has high diagnostic accuracy for detection of fibrosis in NAFLD, independent of BMI and degree of inflammation. KEY POINTS: • MRE has high diagnostic accuracy for detection of fibrosis in NAFLD. • BMI does not significantly affect accuracy of MRE in NAFLD. • Inflammation had no significant influence on MRE performance in NAFLD for fibrosis.

Long-term outcomes in antimitochondrial antibody negative primary biliary cirrhosis.

OBJECTIVES: Antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) are a sensitive and specific marker for primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). AMAs are present in 95% of patients with PBC. However, 5% do not have AMAs and data on these patients is scarce. We aim to evaluate the long-term outcomes of patients with AMA negative PBC. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of 71 AMA negative PBC patients. Disease presentation, laboratory results, and clinical endpoints were recorded. AMA negative patients were matched on year of diagnosis to a control group of 71 AMA positive patients. RESULTS: Ninety-six percent of the AMA negative patients were of female gender with a median age at diagnosis of 55 years and a length of follow-up of 7.5 years vs. 86% females, a median age of 56 and a follow-up of 8.3 years in the control group. Mean total bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase levels were 0.7 mg/dL vs. 0.6 and 570 U/L vs 341, in AMA negative vs. AMA positive patients at presentation, respectively (p = NS). AMA negative patients did not differ in terms of age, serum IgM levels, ANA status, or length of follow-up. Notably, AMA negative patients had a significantly reduced survival free of liver-related complications including transplantation and death compared to AMA positive patients (p = 0.0182). CONCLUSION: In this large experience, AMA negative PBC patients had a significantly worse prognosis compared to AMA positive PBC patients. The reason for the difference in prognosis is unclear, as it may be true difference or reflect delays in case detection among AMA negative patients.

Socioeconomic Inequalities in the Utilization of Colorectal Stents for the Treatment of Malignant Bowel Obstruction.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal stents are increasingly employed as a bridge to surgery or for palliative relief of malignant large bowel obstruction. AIM: To explore determinants of inpatient colorectal stent utilization (CRSU). METHODS: An analysis of the 2012 National Inpatient Sample was performed. International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, codes were used to identify discharges associated with CRSU and patient/hospital factors for inclusion in a logistic regression model. RESULTS: We identified 217,055 inpatient colonoscopies, approximating 1.1 million inpatient colonoscopies nationwide. Colorectal stents were placed in 1.4 % of all procedures. Across all racial groups, Medicare was the most common payer. Patients with commercial insurance had lower CRSU compared with Medicare patients [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.83, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.75-0.92]. No gender disparities were identified (OR 0.96, 95 % CI 0.89-1.03). In addition, no racial differences in CRSU existed between Caucasians versus African-Americans (OR 0.94, 95 % CI 0.83-1.06) and Caucasians versus Hispanics (OR 0.96, 95 % CI 0.83-1.1). Compared with patients living in less affluent neighborhoods, those residing in more affluent areas had higher CRSU (OR 1.65, 95 % CI 1.46-1.86). This displayed a linear relationship with the odds of CRSU increasing as household income increased. Less affluent patients also had the highest total charges and longest wait time to CRSU. CRSU was highest among patients treated in larger medical centers (OR 1.7, 95 % CI 1.51-1.93) and teaching hospitals (OR 3.9, 95 % CI 3.2-4.8). CONCLUSION: Individuals from less affluent neighborhoods have lower colorectal stent utilization. This disparity is independent of race and likely related to poorer access to healthcare resources.

Diagnostic performance of magnetic resonance elastography in staging liver fibrosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is a noninvasive tool for staging liver fibrosis. We conducted a meta-analysis of individual participant data collected from published studies to assess the diagnostic accuracy of MRE for staging liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver diseases (CLD). METHODS: Through a systematic literature search of multiple databases (2003-2013), we identified studies on diagnostic performance of MRE for staging liver fibrosis in patients with CLD with native anatomy, using liver biopsy as the standard. We contacted study authors to collect data on each participant's age, sex, body mass index (BMI), liver stiffness (measured by MRE), fibrosis stage, staging system used, degree of inflammation, etiology of CLD, and interval between MRE and biopsy. Through a pooled analysis, we calculated cluster-adjusted area under the receiver-operating curve, sensitivity, and specificity of MRE for any fibrosis (≥stage 1), significant fibrosis (≥stage 2), advanced fibrosis (≥stage 3), and cirrhosis (stage 4). RESULTS: We analyzed data from 12 retrospective studies, comprising 697 patients (mean age, 55 ± 13 y; 59.4% male; mean BMI, 26.9 ± 6.7 kg/m(2); 92.1% with <1 year interval between MRE and biopsy; and 47.1% with hepatitis C). Overall, 19.5%, 19.4%, 15.5%, 15.9%, and 29.7% patients had stage 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 fibrosis, respectively. The mean area under the receiver-operating curve values (and 95% confidence intervals) for the diagnosis of any (≥stage 1), significant (≥stage 2), advanced fibrosis (≥stage 3), and cirrhosis, were as follows: 0.84 (0.76-0.92), 0.88 (0.84-0.91), 0.93 (0.90-0.95), and 0.92 (0.90-0.94), respectively. A similar diagnostic performance was observed in stratified analysis based on sex, obesity, and etiology of CLD. The overall rate of failure of MRE was 4.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Based on a pooled analysis of data from individual participants, MRE has a high accuracy for the diagnosis of significant or advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis, independent of BMI and etiology of CLD. Prospective studies are warranted to better understand the diagnostic performance of MRE.

Potential impacts of the Affordable Care Act on the clinical practice of hepatology.

UNLABELLED: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, was signed into law and upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this year. The ACA contains a variety of reforms that, if implemented, will significantly affect current models of healthcare delivery for patients with acute and chronic hepatobiliary diseases. One of the Act's central reforms is the creation of accountable care organizations (ACOs) whose mission will be to integrate different levels of care to improve the quality of services delivered and outcomes among populations while maintaining, or preferably reducing, the overall costs of care. Currently, there are clinical practice areas within hepatology, such as liver transplantation, that already have many of the desired features attributed to ACOs. The ACA is sure to affect all fields of medicine, including the practice of clinical hepatology. This article describes the components of the ACA that have the greatest potential to influence the clinical practice of hepatology. CONCLUSION: Ultimately, it will be the responsibility of our profession to identify optimal healthcare delivery models for providing high-value, patient-centered care.

Hepatic histological findings in suspected drug-induced liver injury: systematic evaluation and clinical associations.

UNLABELLED: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is considered to be a diagnosis of exclusion. Liver biopsy may contribute to diagnostic accuracy, but the histological features of DILI and their relationship to biochemical parameters and outcomes are not well defined. We have classified the pathological pattern of liver injury and systematically evaluated histological changes in liver biopsies obtained from 249 patients with suspected DILI enrolled in the prospective, observational study conducted by the Drug Induced Liver Injury Network. Histological features were analyzed for their frequency within different clinical phenotypes of liver injury and to identify associations between clinical and laboratory findings and histological features. The most common histological patterns were acute (21%) and chronic hepatitis (14%), acute (9%) and chronic cholestasis (10%), and cholestatic hepatitis (29%). Liver histology from 128 patients presenting with hepatocellular injury had more severe inflammation, necrosis, and apoptosis and more frequently demonstrated lobular disarray, rosette formation, and hemorrhage than those with cholestasis. Conversely, histology of the 73 patients with cholestatic injury more often demonstrated bile plugs and duct paucity. Severe or fatal hepatic injury in 46 patients was associated with higher degrees of necrosis, fibrosis stage, microvesicular steatosis, and ductular reaction among other findings, whereas eosinophils and granulomas were found more often in those with milder injury. CONCLUSION: We describe an approach for evaluating liver histology in DILI and demonstrate numerous associations between pathological findings and clinical presentations that may serve as a foundation for future studies correlating DILI pathology with its causality and outcome.

Reliability of causality assessment for drug, herbal and dietary supplement hepatotoxicity in the Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network (DILIN).

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Because of the lack of objective tests to diagnose drug-induced liver injury (DILI), causality assessment is a matter of debate. Expert opinion is often used in research and industry, but its test-retest reliability is unknown. To determine the test-retest reliability of the expert opinion process used by the Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network (DILIN). METHODS: Three DILIN hepatologists adjudicate suspected hepatotoxicity cases to one of five categories representing levels of likelihood of DILI. Adjudication is based on retrospective assessment of gathered case data that include prospective follow-up information. One hundred randomly selected DILIN cases were re-assessed using the same processes for initial assessment but by three different reviewers in 92% of cases. RESULTS: The median time between assessments was 938 days (range 140-2352). Thirty-one cases involved >1 agent. Weighted kappa statistics for overall case and individual agent category agreement were 0.60 (95% CI: 0.50-0.71) and 0.60 (0.52-0.68) respectively. Overall case adjudications were within one category of each other 93% of the time, while 5% differed by two categories and 2% differed by three categories. Fourteen per cent crossed the 50% threshold of likelihood owing to competing diagnoses or atypical timing between drug exposure and injury. CONCLUSIONS: The DILIN expert opinion causality assessment method has moderate interobserver reliability but very good agreement within one category. A small but important proportion of cases could not be reliably diagnosed as ≥50% likely to be DILI.

Quality of Cancer Care in Patients with Cirrhosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common primary liver cancer in patients with cirrhosis and is the leading cause of mortality in these patients. Despite existence of robust clinical practice guidelines for surveillance, diagnosis, and management for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the quality of care received by patients with HCC has been inconsistent. Several studies have reported disappointingly low surveillance rates in high-risk groups which likely contribute to most HCC cases being diagnosed at advanced stages. There is also data from large studies showing that significant under-referral to specialists and delay in initiation of treatment are linked to poor clinical outcomes. Given above circumstances, it is very important to perform studies which can identify areas in need of improvement in the care processes of HCC and design interventions to enhance quality of care. Unfortunately, data on validated quality indicators and quality metrics for HCC are non-existent. In this article, we review the existing literature pertaining to this issue and identify areas that need further research.

Non-invasive detection of liver fibrosis: MR imaging features vs. MR elastography.

PURPOSE: To compare accuracy of morphological features of liver on MRI and liver stiffness with MR elastography (MRE) for detection of significant liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, we evaluated 62 patients who underwent liver MRI with MRE and histological confirmation of liver fibrosis within 6 months. Two radiologists, blinded to histology results, independently evaluated liver parenchyma texture, surface nodularity, signs of volumetric changes, and portal hypertension for presence of significant fibrosis and cirrhosis. Two more readers independently calculated mean liver stiffness values with MRE. Interobserver agreement was evaluated with kappa and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) analysis. Diagnostic accuracy was assessed with area under receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) analysis. Comparison of AUROCs of MRI and MRE was performed. RESULTS: Liver fibrosis was present in 37 patients. The interobserver agreement was poor to good (κ = 0.12-0.74) for MRI features and excellent for MRE (ICC 0.97, 95% CI 0.95-0.98). MRI features had 48.5%-87.9% sensitivity, 55.2%-100% specificity, and 71.5%-81.6% accuracy/for detection of significant fibrosis. MRE performed better with 100% sensitivity, 96.5% specificity, and 98.9% accuracy. For the detection of cirrhosis, MRE performed better than MRI features with 88.2% sensitivity (vs. 41.2%-82.3%), 91.1% specificity (vs. 64.4%-95.6%), and 93.5% accuracy (vs. 60.6%-80.5%). Among the MRI features, surface nodularity and overall impression had the best accuracies of 80.3% and 81.6% for detection of significant fibrosis, respectively. For cirrhosis, parenchyma texture and overall impression had the best accuracies of 80.5% and 79.7%, respectively. Overall, MRE had significantly greater AUROC than MRI features for detection of both significant fibrosis (0.98.9 vs 0.71-0.82, P < 0.001) and cirrhosis (0.93.5 vs. 0.61-0.80.5, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: MRE is superior to MRI for the non-invasive diagnosis of significant liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.

Role of magnetic resonance elastography in compensated and decompensated liver disease.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Non-invasive predictors identifying subjects with compensated liver disease at highest risk for transitioning to a decompensated state are lacking. We hypothesized that liver shear stiffness as measured by magnetic resonance elastography is an important non-invasive predictor of hepatic decompensation. METHODS: Among patients with advanced fibrosis undergoing magnetic resonance elastography (2007-2011), a baseline cohort and follow up cohort (compensated liver disease) were established. Cause specific cox proportional hazards analysis adjusting for competing risks was utilized to determine the association between elevated liver shear stiffness and development of decompensation (hepatic encephalopathy, ascites, variceal bleeding). RESULTS: In the baseline cohort (n=430), subjects with decompensated liver disease had a significantly higher mean liver shear stiffness (6.8kPa, IQR 4.9-8.5) as compared to subjects with compensated liver disease (5.2kPa, IQR 4.1-6.8). After adjustment for Model for End Stage Liver Disease score, hepatitis C, age, gender, albumin, and platelet count, the mean liver shear stiffness (OR=1.13, 95% CI 1.03-1.27) was independently associated with decompensated cirrhosis at baseline. Over a median follow up of 27months (n=167), 7.2% of subjects with compensated disease experienced hepatic decompensation. In the follow up cohort, the hazard of hepatic decompensation was 1.42 (95% CI 1.16-1.75) per unit increase in liver shear stiffness over time. The hazard of hepatic decompensation was 4.96 (95% CI 1.4-17.0, p=0.019) for a subject with compensated disease and mean LSS value ⩾5.8kPa as compared to an individual with compensated disease and lower mean LSS values. CONCLUSION: Baseline liver shear stiffness assessed by magnetic resonance elastography is independently associated with decompensated liver disease.