Abstract
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is associated with liver disorders due to various etiologies. Some are diagnosed on basis of deranged liver function tests, imaging, and/or histology. Data on fibroscan in UC is scarce. A previous study had shown no significant differences in liver stiffness (LS) on fibroscan between the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) cases and non-IBD control groups.
We aimed to evaluate UC patients for the prevalence of clinically significant liver disease which is defined by an increased liver stiffness measurement (LS) ≥8 kPa using transient elastography (TE) and to evaluate the effect of UC treatment on liver stiffness at 6 months.
All individuals (UC and non-IBD) had their LS recorded using FibroScan® (EchoSense, Paris, France) by a single-blinded operator trained in TE.
120 UC patients and 60 non-IBD control subjects were included. All demographic variables were comparable between the two groups. Thirty-five UC patients (29.9%) had an LS over 8 kPa at baseline and 24 had persistently elevated LS at 6 months after treatment. This suggests a significant reduction in TE values among 31.4% of cases after starting treatment. Four patients had LS in the cirrhotic range (>14 kPa). On fibroscan, difference in LS (mean ± standard deviation in group UC = 7.57 ± 2.77 vs non-IBD group = 5.37 ± 2.32, p < .001).
TE in UC at the time of diagnosis can detect clinically significant fibrosis. With treatment, TE values regress below <8 kpa in a significant proportion of patients.
