Predictive value for esophageal varices using acoustic radiation force impulse elastography in post-hepatitis B cirrhosis patients / 中华肝脏病杂志

Objective@#A retrospective analysis of the predictive value of acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography for esophageal varices in post-hepatitis B cirrhosis patients.@*Methods@#124 patients with post-hepatitis B cirrhosis who were admitted to Tianjin Second People’s Hospital from August 2016 to August 2017 were selected. According to the shape of esophageal varices under gastroscopy and the risk of bleeding, patients were divided into 4 groups, none, mild, moderate and severe. In ARFI mode, the VTQ function was used to detect the VTQ values of the liver and spleen. The receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the diagnosis of esophageal varices by VTQ values of the liver and spleen. Analysis of variance was performed on the data between the groups, and χ 2 test was performed for categorical data.@*Results@#The difference in liver VTQ values between groups were statistically significant (F = 12.623, P < 0.01). There was a statistically significant difference in VTQ values between spleens (F = 9.022, P < 0.01). The liver VTQ predicts that the AUC value of mild esophageal varices in patients with cirrhosis was 0.701 (0.575-0.827); moderate varices was 0.802 (0.701-0.902); severe varices was 0.885 (0.784-0.986). The best cutoff value was 2.235, the specificity was 97.37%, the negative predictive value was 88.10%, and the accuracy was 90.16%. The VTQ value of spleen predicts the AUC value of mild esophageal varices in patients with liver cirrhosis was 0.688 (0.539-0.798); moderate varices were 0.762 (0.651-0.873); severe varices were 0.800 (0.671-0.928). The best cutoff value was 2.885, the specificity was 84.21%, and the negative predictive value was 82.05%.@*Conclusion@#The application of ARFI elastography in the determination of VTQ values of liver and spleen has certain predictive value for esophageal varices and it might be useful for primary screening of esophageal varices in post-hepatitis B cirrhosis patients.

Diagnostic value of alcoholic liver disease (ALD)/nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) index combined with γ-glutamyl transferase in differentiating ALD and NAFLD

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study aimed to verify the reliability of the alcoholic liver disease (ALD)/nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) index (ANI) for distinguishing ALD in patients with hepatic steatosis from NAFLD, and to investigate whether ANI combined with γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT) would enhance the accuracy of diagnosis in China. METHODS: A hundred thirty-nine cases of fatty liver disease (FLD) were divided into two groups of ALD and NAFLD. The ANI was calculated with an online calculator. All indicators and ANI values were analyzed using statistical methods. RESULTS: ANI was significantly higher in patients with ALD than in those with NAFLD (7.11 ± 5.77 vs. -3.09 ± 3.89, p 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: ANI can help distinguish ALD from NAFLD with high accuracy; when ANI was combined with GGT, its effectiveness improved further.

Correlation of histopathologic grading of hepatocellular carcinoma with its contrast-enhanced ultrasound / 天津医药

Objective To explore the correlation between the enhancement pattern of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and its tumor differentiation on histopathology. Methods HCC lesions (n=259) from 224 patients were retrospectively evaluated with CEUS and histopathological examination. CEUS was performed with SonoVue. The characteristics of blood perfusion and parameters of the time-intensity curve (TIC) were analyzed by ACQ soft?ware. Histopathological diagnoses were decided base on Edmonson grading system. Results Pathologic grading of HCC was not related to the arrival time(P>0.05);The washing-out time point and the enhancement time point and peak time point all appeared earlier in poorly differentiated HCC group, than those in moderately differentiated HCC group than those in well differentiated HCC group(P<0.01);The enhancement time point and the expurgation time point are shorter in poorly differ?entiated HCC group than those in moderately differentiated HCC group than those in well differentiated HCC group. All dif?ferences were with statistical significance. The mode of arterial perfusion in early stage was divided into 3 types:spider web type, radiative type and mixed type. The well differentiated HCC group mainly presented as radiative type ( 28/49, 47.14%). But the most of poorly differentiated HCC group mainly present as spider web type(88/127, 69.29%). The mix type was more common in moderately differentiated HCC group(49/83, 59.03%). Conclusion CEUS show different features of TIC pa?rameters and blood perfusion in different pathological stages of HCC lesions so it can serve as a method to assess the biologi?cal behavior of hepatocellular carcinoma.