Comparative Accuracy of Noninvasive Methods to Assess Steatosis and Fibrosis in Fatty Liver Disease

Noninvasive methods of assessing fibrosis in chronic liver disease, such as serum biomarkers and transient elastography (TE), are commonly used in place of liver biopsy. Other recently suggested methods include controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) measurement and proton density fat fraction (PDFF) for assessment of steatosis, and magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) for assessment of fibrosis.

In a cross-sectional study, researchers compared the diagnostic performances of TE plus CAP and MRE plus PDFF in assessing fibrosis and steatosis in 142 patients with biopsy-proven nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), among whom 108 also had nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Results were as follows:

• The mean body-mass index of patients was 28.1 kg/m…