Salvatore Petta1, Giada Sebastiani2, Elisabetta Bugianesi3, Mauro Viganò4, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong5, Annalisa Berzigotti6, Anna Ludovica Fracanzani7, Quentin M Anstee8, Fabio Marra9, Marco Barbara10, Vincenza Calvaruso10, Calogero Cammà10, Vito Di Marco10, Antonio Craxì10, Victor de Ledinghen11. 1. Sezione di Gastroenterologia e Epatologia, Di.Bi.M.I.S, Università di Palermo, Italy. Electronic address: salvatore.petta@unipa.it. 2. Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada. 3. Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Torino, Torino, Italy. 4. Hepatology Unit, Ospedale San Giuseppe, University of Milan, Milan, Italy. 5. Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. 6. Swiss Liver Center, Hepatology, University Clinic for Visceral Surgery and Medicine, Inselspital, University of Bern, Switzerland. 7. Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Ca' Granda IRCCS Foundation, Policlinico Hospital, University of Milan, Italy. 8. Institute of Cellular Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom; Liver Unit, Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. 9. Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Clinica, University of Florence, Italy; Research Center DENOTHE, University of Florence, Italy. 10. Sezione di Gastroenterologia e Epatologia, Di.Bi.M.I.S, Università di Palermo, Italy. 11. Centre d'Investigation de la Fibrose Hépatique, INSERM U1053, Hôpital Haut-Lévêque, Bordeaux University Hospital, Pessac, France.
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Baveno VI and expanded Baveno VI criteria can avoid the need for esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) to screen for varices needing treatment (VNT) in a substantial proportion of compensated patients with viral and/or alcoholic cirrhosis. This multicenter, cross-sectional study aims to validate these criteria in patients with compensated cirrhosis due to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), accounting for possible differences in liver stiffness measurement (LSM) values between M and XL probes. METHODS: We assessed 790 patients with NAFLD-related compensated cirrhosis who had EGD within six months of a reliable LSM, measured by FibroScan® using M and/or XL probe. Baveno VI and expanded Baveno VI criteria were tested. The main variable used to optimize criteria was the percentage of endoscopies spared, keeping the risk of missing large VNT below a 5% threshold. RESULTS: LSM was measured by both M and XL probes (training set) in 314 patients, while only M or XL probe (validation sets) were used to measure LSM in 338 and 138 patients, respectively. In the training set, use of Baveno VI and expanded Baveno VI criteria reduced the number of EGD by 33.3% and by 58%, with 0.9% and 3.8% of large esophageal varices missed, respectively. The best thresholds to rule-out VNT were identified as platelet count >110,000/mm3 and LSM <30 kPa for M probe, and platelet count >110,000/mm3 and LSM <25 kPa for XL probe (NAFLD cirrhosis criteria). Thus, usage of NAFLD cirrhosis criteria would have led to an absolute reduction in the number of EGD screened patients of 34.7% and 10.5% with respect to Baveno VI and expanded Baveno VI criteria, respectively. CONCLUSION: The new NAFLD cirrhosis criteria, established for the FibroScan probe, can reduce the use of EGD for screening of VNT in NAFLD cirrhosis by more than half, with a chance of missing VNT below 5%. LAY SUMMARY: In non-alcoholic fatty liver disease-related compensated cirrhosis, the expanded Baveno VI criteria work better than the Baveno VI criteria for ruling out the presence of varices needing treatment, sparing unnecessary and invasive screening procedures. New diagnostic criteria for this patient group, based on liver stiffness measurement and platelet count, and optimized for the specific FibroScan® probe used, work better than both Baveno VI and expanded Baveno VI criteria. The accuracy of all non-invasive scoring criteria was lower in non-obese patients.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Baveno VI and expanded Baveno VI criteria can avoid the need for esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) to screen for varices needing treatment (VNT) in a substantial proportion of compensated patients with viral and/or alcoholic cirrhosis. This multicenter, cross-sectional study aims to validate these criteria in patients with compensated cirrhosis due to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), accounting for possible differences in liver stiffness measurement (LSM) values between M and XL probes. METHODS: We assessed 790 patients with NAFLD-related compensated cirrhosis who had EGD within six months of a reliable LSM, measured by FibroScan® using M and/or XL probe. Baveno VI and expanded Baveno VI criteria were tested. The main variable used to optimize criteria was the percentage of endoscopies spared, keeping the risk of missing large VNT below a 5% threshold. RESULTS: LSM was measured by both M and XL probes (training set) in 314 patients, while only M or XL probe (validation sets) were used to measure LSM in 338 and 138 patients, respectively. In the training set, use of Baveno VI and expanded Baveno VI criteria reduced the number of EGD by 33.3% and by 58%, with 0.9% and 3.8% of large esophageal varices missed, respectively. The best thresholds to rule-out VNT were identified as platelet count >110,000/mm3 and LSM <30 kPa for M probe, and platelet count >110,000/mm3 and LSM <25 kPa for XL probe (NAFLD cirrhosis criteria). Thus, usage of NAFLD cirrhosis criteria would have led to an absolute reduction in the number of EGD screened patients of 34.7% and 10.5% with respect to Baveno VI and expanded Baveno VI criteria, respectively. CONCLUSION: The new NAFLD cirrhosis criteria, established for the FibroScan probe, can reduce the use of EGD for screening of VNT in NAFLD cirrhosis by more than half, with a chance of missing VNT below 5%. LAY SUMMARY: In non-alcoholic fatty liver disease-related compensated cirrhosis, the expanded Baveno VI criteria work better than the Baveno VI criteria for ruling out the presence of varices needing treatment, sparing unnecessary and invasive screening procedures. New diagnostic criteria for this patient group, based on liver stiffness measurement and platelet count, and optimized for the specific FibroScan® probe used, work better than both Baveno VI and expanded Baveno VI criteria. The accuracy of all non-invasive scoring criteria was lower in non-obesepatients.
Authors: Giada Sebastiani; Keyur Patel; Vlad Ratziu; Jordan J Feld; Brent A Neuschwander-Tetri; Massimo Pinzani; Salvatore Petta; Annalisa Berzigotti; Peter Metrakos; Naglaa Shoukry; Elizabeth M Brunt; An Tang; Jeremy F Cobbold; Jean-Marie Ekoe; Karen Seto; Peter Ghali; Stéphanie Chevalier; Quentin M Anstee; Heather Watson; Harpreet Bajaj; James Stone; Mark G Swain; Alnoor Ramji Journal: Can Liver J Date: 2022-02-04
Authors: Victor Dong; Maxime Gosselin; Nishita Jagarlamudi; Beverley Kok; Mark G Swain; Jasmohan S Bajaj; Juan G Abraldes; Vladimir Marquez; R Todd Stravitz; Aldo J Montano-Loza; Manuela Merli; Phil Wong; Amanda Brisebois; Puneeta Tandon; Julia Wendon; Scott L Nyberg; François M Carrier; Michael R Lucey; Florence Wong; Jordan J Feld; Constantine J Karvellas; Christopher F Rose; Julien Bissonnette Journal: Can Liver J Date: 2019-12-10