Predicting Outcomes in Metabolic Dysfunction–Associated Steatotic Liver Disease

Current guidelines on metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) recommend staging the disease through noninvasive measurement of liver stiffness — for example, with vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) — rather than biopsy. Now, researchers have conducted a multinational retrospective study comparing the prognostic accuracy of the two approaches in predicting adverse liver events.

The study involved 3500 adults (mean age, 52; about a third with advanced fibrosis) who underwent both VCTE and liver biopsy during baseline assessment of MASLD. Median follow-up was 5 years, and the primary outcome was a composite of hepatic decompensation, liver transplant, and liver-related death.