The usefulness of noninvasive liver stiffness assessment using shear-wave elastography for predicting liver fibrosis in children

Table 1 Clinical characteristics

Parameters	Patients (n = 30)
Age (years, mean ± SD) [range]	3.6 ± 5.5 [7 days to 17.9 years]
Sex (n, male:female)	22:8
Etiology of liver disease (%)
Hepatitis	6 (20.0)
Biliary atresia	6 (20.0)
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease	5 (16.7)
Others^†	13 (43.3)
Serologic Index
AST (mean ± SD) (IU/L) [range]	384.2 ± 577.6 [32–2946]
ALT (mean ± SD) (IU/L) [range]	440.3 ± 655.9 [12–3121]
APRI (AST to platelet ratio index) (mean ± SD) [range]	5.0 ± 8.4 [0.3–42.1]
AAR (AST to ALT ratio) (mean ± SD) [range]	1.3 ± 1.2 [0.2–5.0]
FIB-4 (fibrosis-4 score) (mean ± SD) [range]	0.4 ± 0.8 [0.0–3.9]
Grade of fibrosis (%)
F0-1 (none or mild)	13 (43.3)
F2-3 (moderate or severe)	17 (56.7)
Necroinflammatory activity (%)
A0-1 (none or minimal)	18 (60.0)
A2-3 (mild or moderate)	12 (40.0)
Degree of steatosis (%)
S0-1 (none or mild < 33%)	26 (86.7)
S2-3 (moderate or severe, ≥ 33%)	4 (13.3)

^†Progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (n = 3), glycogen storage disease (n = 2), hemosiderosis (n = 2), hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (n = 2), autoimmune hepatitis (n = 2), congenital hepatic fibrosis (n = 1), and carnitine palmitoyltransferase I deficiency (n = 1). SD, standard deviation; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; IU, international units; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; APRI, AST to platelet ratio index; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; FIB-4, fibrosis-4 score

ISSN: 1471-2342