Transient elastography improves detection of liver cirrhosis compared to routine screening tests

AIM: To investigate the diagnostic significance of transient elastography (TE) in a daily routine clinical setting in comparison to clinical signs, laboratory parameters and ultrasound. METHODS: TE, ultrasound, laboratory parameters and cutaneous liver signs were assessed in 291 consecutive patients with chronic liver disease of various aetiologies who underwent liver biopsy in daily routine. RESULTS: Sensitivity of TE for the detection of liver cirrhosis was 90.4%, compared to 80.1% for ultrasound, 58.0% for platelet count and 45.1% for cutaneous liver signs (P < 0.0001 for comparisons with histology). AUROC for TE was 0.760 (95%CI: 0.694-0.825). Combination of TE with ultrasound increased sensitivity to 96.1% and AUROC to 0.825 (95%CI: 0.768-0.882). TE correlated with laboratory parameters of cirrhosis progression like albumin (r = -0.43), prothrombin time (r = -0.44), and bilirubin (r = 0.34; P < 0.001 for each). Particularly, in patients with Child Pugh score A or normal platelet count TE improved sensitivity for the detection of liver cirrhosis compared to ultrasound by 14.1% (P < 0.04) and 16.3% (P < 0.02), respectively. CONCLUSION: Transient elastography is superior to routine diagnostic tests allowing detection of liver cirrhosis in additional 10%-16% of patients with chronic liver disease that would have been missed by clinical examinations.