Inflammatory activity affects the accuracy of liver stiffness measurement by transient elastography but not by two-dimensional shear wave elastography in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Background In patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the impact of the severity of steatosis and inflammatory activity on the accuracy of liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by transient elastography (TE) and by two-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) in staging liver fibrosis is still debated and scarce. We aimed to focus on this aspect. Methods We prospectively studied 104 patients requiring biopsy for the assessment of NAFLD. We used ordinary least squares regression to test for differences in the association between fibrosis and LSM by TE and 2D-SWE when other factors (steatosis and inflammatory activity) are considered. Results Among 104 patients, 102 had reliable LSM by TE, and 88 had valid LSM by 2D-SWE. The association between fibrosis based on histology and LSM was significantly stronger when 2D-SWE assessed LSM compared to TE (Spearman's correlation coefficient of .71; P < .001 vs .51, P Z = 2.21, P = .027). Inflammatory activity was an independent predictor of LSM by TE but not of LSM by 2D-SWE. After controlling for fibrosis, age, sex and body mass index, the inflammatory activity and the interaction between inflammatory activity and fibrosis independently explained 11% and 13% of variance in LSM by TE respectively. Steatosis did not affect the association of fibrosis and LSM by either method. Conclusion Inflammatory activity on histology significantly affects LSM by TE, but not LSM by 2D-SWE in NAFLD. LSM by 2D-SWE reflects liver fibrosis more accurately than LSM by TE. Furthermore, the severity of steatosis on histology did not influence the association of LSM and fibrosis by either elastography method.