Role of splenic hepatic elastography ratio in differentiating non-cirrhotic portal fibrosis and chronic liver disease in children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND

Differentiation of Non-cirrhotic Portal Fibrosis (NCPF) from chronic liver disease (CLD) in children and adolescents with portal hypertension (PHT) is challenging especially in cases where liver stiffness measurement (LSM) and hepatic venous pressure gradient are higher. This objective of the current study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the splenic stiffness measurement (SSM)/LSM ratio in the diagnosis of NCPF.

METHODS

From January 2019 to December 2023, consecutive children and adolescents of 6 months to 18 years of age with PHT (CLD and NCPF) were prospectively enrolled. Transient elastography (TE) for SSM and LSM, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (UGIE), liver biopsy/trans-jugular liver biopsy, abdominal imaging, and laboratory evaluation were done. The relationship of TE parameters for diagnosis of NCPF and CLD was evaluated. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) statistics were applied using R Studio-4.2.2 statistical software.

RESULTS

One hundred and forty seven with CLD and 27 patients with NCPF were evaluated. Median age was 10.0 (IQR 2.4-14.0) years; 68.4% were males. The AUROC of SSM/LSM ratio was better (0.992, 95%CI 0.982-1.0001) than LSM (0.945, 95%CI0.913-0.977) and SSM (0.626, 95%CI0.258-0.489) for the diagnosis of NCPF. SSM/LSM ratio cut-off of 3.67 predicted NCPF with an excellent sensitivity (100%), specificity (95.9%), and diagnostic accuracy (95.91%). The AUROC of SSM/LSM ratio was excellent and outperformed other TE parameters in the subgroups, i.e., LSM between 10 and 20 kPa (0.982, 95%CI 0.947-1.000), without clinically significant varices (CSV) (1.000, 95%CI 1.000-1.000) and with CSV (0.993, 95%CI 0.983-1.000). Diagnostic performance of SSM/LSM Ratio was better than LSM for discriminating NCPF from CLD using McNemar test (p = 0.01).

CONCLUSION

The SSM/LSM ratio is an excellent tool in differentiating NCPF from CLD.