Two international studies have shown promising results for the use of blood tests and non-invasive imaging techniques in diagnosing metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and determining stages of liver fibrosis, contributing to improved diagnostic accuracy and reduced need for liver tissue biopsies.
The scientific website Medical Xpress reported on Thursday that the two studies were published in The Lancet and Nature Medicine, as part of an international research program called LITMUS, involving researchers from the University of Newcastle in the UK and other scientific institutions, and included more than 1,850 patients, aiming to evaluate the accuracy of non-invasive diagnostic tools for liver diseases.
Diagnostic Accuracy and Alternatives
The results showed that several tests, including the SOMAScan protein analysis, magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), and FibroScan examinations, performed well in detecting advanced liver fibrosis and determining its severity. Blood tests ELF and ADAPT also showed promising results in assessing fibrosis stages.
One of the studies revealed that the analysis of the gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) enzyme demonstrated the ability to distinguish between fibrosis grades, outperforming the widely used FIB-4 index in some assessments for initial screening of liver diseases.
The New Diagnostic Pathway
Researchers clarified that the results support adopting a stepwise diagnostic pathway starting with simple blood tests, then moving to more specialized examinations when necessary. This helps identify patients who require referral to liver specialists and limits the use of biopsies, which involve inserting a needle into the liver to obtain and examine tissue samples.
Magnetic resonance elastography also showed good capability in detecting advanced fibrosis. These techniques can contribute to improving the selection of patients participating in clinical trials for new treatments.
Global Prevalence and Future Studies
These results gain importance amid the spread of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, which affects about one-third of adults globally. However, researchers pointed out the need for further studies to verify the accuracy of these tests and determine their role in medical practice before widely adopting them as alternatives to biopsies.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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