0000000000612744
AUTHOR
Giuseppe Butera
Reliability of liver stiffness measurement in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: the effects of body mass index.
Background Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) using transient elastography (TE) is used to stage fibrosis in patients with liver disease, diagnostic reliability and the factors affecting its performance in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are incompletely understood. Aim To assess LSM. Methods Consecutive NAFLD patients (n = 169), assessed by liver biopsy (Kleiner score), anthropometrical, biochemical and metabolic features, underwent LSM using TE with standard M probe. Results Liver stiffness measurement was not reliable in 23 patients (14%) due to obesity. Among patients with a reliable TE, a LSM value >7.25 kPa was the best cut-off for predicting significant fibrosi…
Survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated by percutaneous radio-frequency ablation (RFA) is affected by complete radiological response.
Background: Radio-frequency ablation (RFA) has been employed in the treatment of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) early stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as curative treatments. Aim: To assess the effectiveness and the safety of RFA in patients with early HCC and compensated cirrhosis. Methods: A cohort of 151 consecutive patients with early stage HCC (122 Child-Pugh class A and 29 class B patients) treated with RFA were enrolled. Clinical, laboratory and radiological follow-up data were collected from the time of first RFA. A single lesion was observed in 113/151 (74.8%), two lesions in 32/151 (21.2%), and three lesions in 6/151 (4%) of patients. Results: The overall survival rates …