• J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Oct 2022

    Noninvasive surrogates are poor predictors of liver fibrosis in patients with Fontan circulation.

    • Yu Rim Shin, Seung Up Kim, Sak Lee, Jae Young Choi, Han Ki Park, Jeong Eun Yoo, and Young Nyun Park.
    • Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Severance Cardiovascular Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
    • J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2022 Oct 1; 164 (4): 1176-1185.e3.

    ObjectivesPatients with Fontan circulation exhibit a high incidence of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. Transient elastography (TE) and the enhanced liver fibrosis (ELF) test have proven useful as noninvasive surrogate markers of liver fibrosis for other chronic liver diseases. We evaluated whether TE and the ELF score can predict the degree of liver fibrosis in patients with Fontan circulation.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 45 adult patients with at least 10 years of Fontan duration who had undergone liver biopsy and investigated the relation between the fibrosis stage and TE and the ELF test results. Additionally, the association of these variables and other biochemical and hemodynamic parameters was assessed.ResultsThe mean age was 25.9 years and the mean Fontan duration was 20.8 years. Advanced liver fibrosis was present in 36 (80.0%) patients. TE or ELF score are comparable for patients with and without advanced liver fibrosis (mean 23.3 vs 24.8 kPa [P = .85] for TE; mean 8.94 vs 9.25 [P = .44] for the ELF score). However, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide level and ventricular end-diastolic pressure were higher in patients with advanced liver fibrosis (mean 224 vs 80 pg/mL [P < .01]; and mean 12 vs 9 mm Hg [P = .04], respectively). No independent predictor of advanced liver fibrosis was found in multivariate analysis.ConclusionsTE and the ELF score were unable to predict the degree of liver fibrosis in Fontan patients. Liver biopsy remains as the only valid method to assess fibrotic burden in this population.Copyright © 2021 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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