Transient elastography: A non-invasive tool for assessing liver fibrosis in HIV/HCV patients

Abstract

ALF was more frequent in co-infected than mono-infected patients. This result correlated with lower CD4 levels. Protective immunological effects of HAART on LF progression outweigh its hepatotoxic effects.

Prospective evaluation of hepatic steatosis in HIV-infected patients with or without hepatitis C virus co-infection

“…Liver fibrosis was assessed by a single certified operator (trained by the manufacturer) using transient elastography (FibroScan 1 ; EchoSens, Paris, France), as previously described. 27 Transient elastography provides an assessment of liver stiffness (LS) expressed in units of kPa.…”

Associated Factors and Liver Disease Severity for Decreased Bone Mineral Density in HIV Mono- and HIV/HCV Co-infected Patients

“…Details of the technical background and examination procedure have previously been described [21]. Liver cirrhosis was defined as liver stiffness ≥ 12.5 kPa [22].…”

Liver fibrosis progression and clinical outcomes are intertwined

“…However, liver biopsy is impractical for serial evaluations and not applicable in longitudinal cohort studies that require multiple evaluations of LF. Transient elastography could have been an alternative tool, [32] but this technique has become available only in recent years, thus limiting the length of follow-up; moreover, this tool could not have been applied to such a large population for practical reasons, and furthermore, elastography may be affected by operator-based biases. Despite a recent study found that noninvasive markers are not optimal, [20] these markers were already validated for estimating LF [13] and predicted hepatic decompensation and death in cohorts of patients.…”