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Background & Aims: There is a need to reduce the screen failure rate (SFR) in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) clinical trials (MASH+F2-3; MASH+F4) and identify people with high-risk MASH (MASH+F2-4) in clinical practice. We aimed to evaluate non-invasive tests (NITs) screening approaches for these target conditions., Methods: This was an individual participant data meta-analysis for the performance of NITs against liver biopsy for MASH+F2-4, MASH+F2-3 and MASH+F4. Index tests were the FibroScan-AST (FAST) score, liver stiffness measured using vibration-controlled transient elastography (LSM-VCTE), the fibrosis-4 score (FIB-4) and the NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS). Area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROC) and thresholds including those that achieved 34% SFR were reported., Results: We included 2281 unique cases. The prevalence of MASH+F2-4, MASH+F2-3 and MASH+F4 was 31%, 24% and 7%, respectively. Area under the receiver operating characteristics curves for MASH+F2-4 were .78, .75, .68 and .57 for FAST, LSM-VCTE, FIB-4 and NFS. Area under the receiver operating characteristics curves for MASH+F2-3 were .73, .67, .60, .58 for FAST, LSM-VCTE, FIB-4 and NFS. Area under the receiver operating characteristics curves for MASH+F4 were .79, .84, .81, .76 for FAST, LSM-VCTE, FIB-4 and NFS. The sequential combination of FIB-4 and LSM-VCTE for the detection of MASH+F2-3 with threshold of .7 and 3.48, and 5.9 and 20 kPa achieved SFR of 67% and sensitivity of 60%, detecting 15 true positive cases from a theoretical group of 100 participants at the prevalence of 24%., Conclusions: Sequential combinations of NITs do not compromise diagnostic performance and may reduce resource utilisation through the need of fewer LSM-VCTE examinations., (© 2024 The Authors. Liver International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: Liver biopsy is still needed for fibrosis staging in many patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The aims of this study were to evaluate the individual diagnostic performance of liver stiffness measurement by vibration controlled transient elastography (LSM-VCTE), Fibrosis-4 Index (FIB-4) and NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) Fibrosis Score (NFS) and to derive diagnostic strategies that could reduce the need for liver biopsies., Design: Individual patient data meta-analysis of studies evaluating LSM-VCTE against liver histology was conducted. FIB-4 and NFS were computed where possible. Sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) were calculated. Biomarkers were assessed individually and in sequential combinations., Results: Data were included from 37 primary studies (n=5735; 45% women; median age: 54 years; median body mass index: 30 kg/m 2 ; 33% had type 2 diabetes; 30% had advanced fibrosis). AUROCs of individual LSM-VCTE, FIB-4 and NFS for advanced fibrosis were 0.85, 0.76 and 0.73. Sequential combination of FIB-4 cut-offs (<1.3; ≥2.67) followed by LSM-VCTE cut-offs (<8.0; ≥10.0 kPa) to rule-in or rule-out advanced fibrosis had sensitivity and specificity (95% CI) of 66% (63-68) and 86% (84-87) with 33% needing a biopsy to establish a final diagnosis. FIB-4 cut-offs (<1.3; ≥3.48) followed by LSM cut-offs (<8.0; ≥20.0 kPa) to rule out advanced fibrosis or rule in cirrhosis had a sensitivity of 38% (37-39) and specificity of 90% (89-91) with 19% needing biopsy., Conclusion: Sequential combinations of markers with a lower cut-off to rule-out advanced fibrosis and a higher cut-off to rule-in cirrhosis can reduce the need for liver biopsies., Competing Interests: Competing interests: AG reports personal fees from AbbVie, personal fees from Alexion, personal fees from Bayer, personal fees from BMS, personal fees from CSL Behring, personal fees from Gilead, grants and personal fees from Intercept, personal fees from Ipsen, personal fees from Merz, grants and personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Pfizer, personal fees from Sanofi-Aventis, personal fees from Sequana, grants and personal fees from Falk, personal fees from MSD, during the conduct of the study. ANAJ reports other from Perspectum, during the conduct of the study. CF reports other from Echosens, during the conduct of the study. JFC reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, personal fees from Novo Nordisk, personal fees from Intercept, personal fees from Alnylam, during the conduct of the study. JB reports other from Pfizer, during the conduct of the study. JMS reports personal fees from BMS, personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, personal fees from Echosens, personal fees from Genfit, personal fees from Gilead Sciences, personal fees from Intercept Pharmaceuticals, personal fees from Madrigal, personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Pfizer, personal fees from Roche, personal fees from Sanofi, personal fees from Falk Foundation, personal fees from MSD, grants from Gilead Sciences, during the conduct of the study. JW reports grants from Echosens, during the conduct of the study. Dr. Pavlides reports other from Perspectum, during the conduct of the study. MT reports personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, personal fees from Falk Foundation, personal fees from Gilead, personal fees from Intercept, personal fees from Merck Sharp & Dohme, personal fees from Albireo, personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, personal fees from BiomX, personal fees from Falk Pharma GmbH, personal fees from GENFIT, personal fees from Jannsen, personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Phenex, personal fees from Regulus and Shire, grants from AbbVie, grants from Falk, grants from Gilead, grants from Intercept, grants from Albireo, grants from CymaBay, grants from Merck Sharp & Dohme, grants from Takeda, during the conduct of the study; in addition, MT has a patent norUDCA issued. PNN reports personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, personal fees from Gilead, personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, personal fees from Pfizer, personal fees from Novo Nordisk, personal fees from Poxel, grants from Pharmaxis, grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, grants from Echosens, grants from Novo Nordisk, during the conduct of the study. QMA reports grants from AbbVie, grants and personal fees from Allergan/Tobira, grants from AstraZeneca, grants from GlaxoSmithKline, grants from Glympse Bio, grants and personal fees from Novartis Pharma, grants and personal fees from Pfizer, grants from Vertex, personal fees from Abbott Laboratories, personal fees from Acuitas Medical, personal fees from Blade, personal fees from BNN Cardio, personal fees from Cirius, personal fees from CymaBay, personal fees from EcoR1, personal fees from Eli Lilly, personal fees from Galmed, personal fees from Genfit, personal fees from Gilead, personal fees from Grunthal, personal fees from HistoIndex, personal fees from Indalo, personal fees from Imperial Innovations, personal fees from Intercept Pharma Europe, personal fees from Inventiva, personal fees from IQVIA, personal fees from Janssen, personal fees from Kenes, personal fees from Madrigal, personal fees from MedImmune, personal fees from Metacrine, personal fees from NewGene, personal fees from NGMBio, personal fees from North Sea Therapeutics, personal fees from Novo Nordisk, personal fees from Poxel, personal fees from ProSciento, personal fees from Raptor Pharma, personal fees from Servier, personal fees from Viking Therapeutics, personal fees from Abbott Laboratories, personal fees from BMS, personal fees from Clinical Care Options, personal fees from Falk, personal fees from Fishawack, personal fees from Integritas Communications, personal fees from MedScape, other from IMI2 LITMUS consortium, during the conduct of the study. SH reports grants and personal fees from Akero, grants and personal fees from Axcella, grants and personal fees from Cirius, grants and personal fees from CiVi Biopharma, grants and personal fees from CymaBay, grants and personal fees from Galectin, grants from Galmed, grants and personal fees from Genfit, grants and personal fees from Gilead Sciences, grants and personal fees from Hepion Pharmaceuticals, grants and personal fees from Hightide Therapeutics, grants and personal fees from Intercept, grants and personal fees from Madrigal, grants and personal fees from Metacrine, grants and personal fees from NGM Bio, grants and personal fees from North Sea Therapeutics, grants and personal fees from Novartis, grants and personal fees from Novo Nordisk, grants and personal fees from Poxel, grants and personal fees from Sagimet, grants and personal fees from Viking, personal fees from Altimmune, personal fees from Alentis, personal fees from Arrowhead, personal fees from Canfite, personal fees from Echosens, personal fees from Enyo, personal fees from Fibronostics, personal fees from Foresite Labs, personal fees from Fortress Biotech, personal fees from HistoIndex, personal fees from Kowa, personal fees from Prometic, personal fees from Ridgeline, personal fees from Terns, during the conduct of the study. SM reports personal fees from Echosens, during the conduct of the study. SN reports other from Perspectum, during the conduct of the study. SP reports personal fees from AbbVie, personal fees from Gilead, personal fees from Intercept, personal fees from Pfizer, during the conduct of the study. TK reports grants from Echosens, during the conduct of the study. TT reports other from Pfizer, during the conduct of the study. VdL reports personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, personal fees from Gilead Sciences, personal fees from AbbVie, personal fees from Pfizer, personal fees from Echosens, personal fees from Intercept Pharmaceuticals, personal fees from MSD, personal fees from Myr-Pharma, personal fees from Supersonic Imagine, personal fees from Tillotts, during the conduct of the study. Dr. Wong reports personal fees from AbbVie, personal fees from 3V-BIO, personal fees from Allergan, personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, personal fees from Center for Outcomes Research in Liver Diseases, grants and personal fees from Gilead, personal fees from Intercept, personal fees from Echosens, personal fees from Hanmi Pharmaceutical, personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Pfizer, personal fees from Merck, personal fees from Novo Nordisk, personal fees from Perspectum, personal fees from ProSciento, personal fees from Sagimet Biosciences, personal fees from TARGET PharmaSolutions, personal fees from Terns, personal fees from BMS, during the conduct of the study. WK reports personal fees from Samil, personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, personal fees from Ildong, personal fees from LG Chemistry, personal fees from Gilead Sciences, personal fees from HK inno.N, personal fees from GreenCross, personal fees from Bukwang, personal fees from Standigm, personal fees from PharmaKing, personal fees from KOBIOLABS, personal fees from Eisai, personal fees from Zydus, personal fees from Novo Nordisk, grants from Gilead, grants from Ildong, grants from GreenCross, grants from Bukwang, grants from PharmaKing, grants from Roche, grants from Galmed, grants from Novartis, grants from Pfizer, grants from Springbank, grants from Altimmune, grants from MSD, grants from BMS, grants from Dicerna, grants from Enyo, grants from Hitachi-Aloka, other from KOBIOLABS, other from Lepidyne, during the conduct of the study. YY reports grants from Biocodes, grants and personal fees from Gilead Sciences, personal fees from Bilim Pharmaceuticals, personal fees from Pharmactive Pharmaceutical, personal fees from Sanovel Pharmaceuticals, personal fees from Galmed, personal fees from Zydus, personal fees from Novo Nordisk, during the conduct of the study. MP, ANAJ and SN are shareholders of Perspectum, Oxford, UK. CF is employed by Echosens, France. MT received speaker fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), Falk Foundation, Gilead, Intercept and Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD); advisory board fees from Albireo, Boehringer Ingelheim, BiomX, Falk Pharma GmbH, GENFIT, Gilead, Intercept, Jannsen, MSD, Novartis, Phenex, Regulus and Shire; travel grants from AbbVie, Falk, Gilead, and Intercept; and research grants from Albireo, CymaBay, Falk, Gilead, Intercept, MSD, and Takeda. He is also coinventor of patents on the medical use of norUDCA filed by the Medical University of Graz. SP was speaker and/or Advisor for AbbVie, Gilead, Intercept and Pfizer. PNN received grant and research support from Pharmaxis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Echosens and Novo Nordisk and consulting fees from BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Gilead, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Poxel on behalf of the University of Birmingham. VL reports consultancy for AbbVie, BMS, Echosens, Gilead Sciences, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, MSD, Myr-Pharma, Pfizer, Supersonic Imagine and Tillotts. SM received honorarium fees from Echosens. JFC received consultancy, advisory board, and speaker fees from Astra Zeneca, NovoNordisk, Intercept and Alnylam. JMS reports consultancy for BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Echosens, Genfit, Gilead Sciences, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Madrigal, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi; received research funding from Gilead Sciences and was on the speakers bureau for Falk Foundation MSD Sharp & Dohme GmbH. WK has served as a speaker and consultant of Gilead, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Samil, Ildong, LG Chemistry, HK inno.N, GreenCross, Bukwang, Standigm, PharmaKing, KOBIOLABS, Eisai, Zydus, and Novonordisk, received grants from Gilead, Ildong, GreenCross, Bukwang, Pharmaking, Roche, Galmed, Novartis, Pfizer, Springbank, Altimmune, MSD, BMS, Dicerna, Enyo, and Hitachi-Aloka, and owns stocks in KOBIOLABS and Lepidyne. TK and JW received unrestricted research grants from Echosens, Paris France. TK participated in a clinical advisory board meeting. YY received research grant from Biocodex, Gilead Sciences, speaker fees for Gilead Sciences, Bilim Pharmaceuticals, Pharmactive Pharmaceutical, Sanovel Pharmaceuticals, and served as advisory board member for Galmed, Zydus, NovoNordisk. AG reports consultancy for AbbVie, Alexion, Bayer, BMS, CSL Behring, Gilead, Intercept, Ipsen, Merz, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, Sequana; received research funding from Intercept, Falk, Novartis and was on the speakers bureau for AbbVie, Alexion, BMS, CSL Behring, Falk Foundation, Gilead, Intercept, MSD, Merz, Novartis, Sequana. VWSW has served as a consultant or advisory board member for 3V-BIO, AbbVie, Allergan, Boehringer Ingelheim, Center for Outcomes Research in Liver Diseases, Echosens, Gilead Sciences, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, Intercept, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Perspectum Diagnostics, Pfizer, ProSciento, Sagimet Biosciences, TARGET PharmaSolutions, and Terns; and a speaker for AbbVie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Echosens, and Gilead Sciences. He has also received a research grant from Gilead Sciences for fatty liver research. QMA is coordinator of the IMI2 LITMUS consortium and he reports research grant funding from Abbvie, Allergan/Tobira, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Glympse Bio, Novartis Pharma AG, Pfizer Ltd., Vertex; consultancy on behalf of Newcastle University for Abbott Laboratories, Acuitas Medical, Allergan/Tobira, Blade, BNN Cardio, Cirius, CymaBay, EcoR1, E3Bio, Eli Lilly & Company Ltd., Galmed, Genfit SA, Gilead, Grunthal, HistoIndex, Indalo, Imperial Innovations, Intercept Pharma Europe Ltd., Inventiva, IQVIA, Janssen, Kenes, Madrigal, MedImmune, Metacrine, NewGene, NGMBio, North Sea Therapeutics, Novartis, Novo Nordisk A/S, Pfizer Ltd., Poxel, ProSciento, Raptor Pharma, Servier, Viking Therapeutics; and speaker fees from Abbott Laboratories, Allergan/Tobira, BMS, Clinical Care Options, Falk, Fishawack, Genfit SA, Gilead, Integritas Communications, MedScape. SAH has research grants from Akero, Axcella, Cirius, CiVi Biopharma, Cymabay, Galectin, Galmed, Genfit, Gilead Sciences, Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Hightide Therapeutics, Intercept, Madrigal, Metacrine, NGM Bio, Northsea Therapeutics, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Poxel, Sagimet, Viking. He has received consulting fees from Akero, Altimmune, Alentis, Arrowhead, Axcella, Canfite, Cirius, CiVi, Cymabay, Echosens, Enyo, Fibronostics, Foresite Labs, Fortress Biotech, Galectin, Genfit, Gilead Sciences, Hepion, HIghtide, HistoIndex, Intercept, Kowa, Madrigal, Metacrine, NGM, Northsea, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Poxel, Prometic, Ridgeline, Sagimet, Terns, and Viking., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background and Aims: Vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE), point shear wave elastography (pSWE), 2-dimensional shear wave elastography (2DSWE), magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been proposed as non-invasive tests for patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This study evaluated their diagnostic accuracy for liver fibrosis and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)., Methods: PubMED/MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library were searched for studies examining the diagnostic accuracy of these index tests, against histology as the reference standard, in adult patients with NAFLD. Two authors independently screened and assessed methodological quality of studies and extracted data. Summary estimates of sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve (sAUC) were calculated for fibrosis stages and NASH, using a random effects bivariate logit-normal model., Results: We included 82 studies (14,609 patients). Meta-analysis for diagnosing fibrosis stages was possible in 53 VCTE, 11 MRE, 12 pSWE and 4 2DSWE studies, and for diagnosing NASH in 4 MRE studies. sAUC for diagnosis of significant fibrosis were: 0.83 for VCTE, 0.91 for MRE, 0.86 for pSWE and 0.75 for 2DSWE. sAUC for diagnosis of advanced fibrosis were: 0.85 for VCTE, 0.92 for MRE, 0.89 for pSWE and 0.72 for 2DSWE. sAUC for diagnosis of cirrhosis were: 0.89 for VCTE, 0.90 for MRE, 0.90 for pSWE and 0.88 for 2DSWE. MRE had sAUC of 0.83 for diagnosis of NASH. Three (4%) studies reported intention-to-diagnose analyses and 15 (18%) studies reported diagnostic accuracy against pre-specified cut-offs., Conclusions: When elastography index tests are acquired successfully, they have acceptable diagnostic accuracy for advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis. The potential clinical impact of these index tests cannot be assessed fully as intention-to-diagnose analyses and validation of pre-specified thresholds are lacking., Lay Summary: Non-invasive tests that measure liver stiffness or use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been suggested as alternatives to liver biopsy for assessing the severity of liver scarring (fibrosis) and fatty inflammation (steatohepatitis) in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). In this study, we summarise the results of previously published studies on how accurately these non-invasive tests can diagnose liver fibrosis and inflammation, using liver biopsy as the reference. We found that some techniques that measure liver stiffness had a good performance for the diagnosis of severe liver scarring., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest EAS, FEM, MHZ, YV, JAL, CKL, LAJY, NP, CHL, GPA and PMB have nothing to declare. ANAJ, SN and MP are shareholders of Perspectum Ltd. MRG reports grant funding from Gilead Sciences and Intercept; consultancy from Allergan, Gilead Science, Intercept, Medimmune, Shionogi, ProSciento, Kaleido, Siemens, Abbvie, Novo Nordisk, Genfit and Zydus. MJB and TAT are shareholders and employees of Pfizer. QMA is coordinator of the IMI2 LITMUS consortium and he reports research grant funding from Abbvie, Allergan/Tobira, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Glympse Bio, Novartis Pharma AG, Pfizer Ltd., Vertex; consultancy on behalf of Newcastle University for Abbott Laboratories, Acuitas Medical, Allergan/Tobira, Blade, BNN Cardio, Cirius, CymaBay, EcoR1, E3Bio, Eli Lilly & Company Ltd., Galmed, Genfit SA, Gilead, Grunthal, HistoIndex, Indalo, Imperial Innovations, Intercept Pharma Europe Ltd., Inventiva, IQVIA, Janssen, Kenes, Madrigal, MedImmune, Metacrine, NewGene, NGMBio, North Sea Therapeutics, Novartis, Novo Nordisk A/S, Pfizer Ltd., Poxel, ProSciento, Raptor Pharma, Servier, Viking Therapeutics; and speaker fees from Abbott Laboratories, Allergan/Tobira, BMS, Clinical Care Options, Falk, Fishawack, Genfit SA, Gilead, Integritas Communications, MedScape. SAH has research grants from Akero, Axcella, Cirius, CiVi Biopharma, Cymabay, Galectin, Galmed, Genfit, Gilead Sciences, Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Hightide Therapeutics, Intercept, Madrigal, Metacrine, NGM Bio, Northsea Therapeutics, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Poxel, Sagimet, Viking. He has received consulting fees from Akero, Altimmune, Alentis, Arrowhead, Axcella, Canfite, Cirius, CiVi, Cymabay, Echosens, Enyo, Fibronostics, Foresite Labs, Fortress Biotech, Galectin, Genfit, Gilead Sciences, Hepion, HIghtide, HistoIndex, Intercept, Kowa, Madrigal, Metacrine, NGM, Northsea, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Poxel, Prometic, Ridgeline, Sagimet, Terns, and Viking. Please refer to the accompanying ICMJE disclosure forms for further details., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Direct-acting antiviral therapies (DAAs) for treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) have excellent rates of viral eradication, but their effect on regression of liver fibrosis is unclear. The primary aim was to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) to evaluate changes in liver fibrosis, liver fat and liver iron content (LIC) in patients with chronic HCV following treatment with DAAs., Methods: In this prospective study, 15 patients with chronic HCV due to start treatment with DAAs and with transient elastography (TE) > 8 kPa were recruited consecutively. Patients underwent MRI and MRS at baseline (before treatment), and at 24 weeks and 48 weeks after the end of treatment (EoT) for the measurement of liver cT 1 (fibroinflammation), liver fat and T 2 * (LIC)., Results: All patients achieved a sustained virological response. Liver cT 1 showed significant decreases from baseline to 24 weeks post EoT (876 vs 806 ms, p = 0.002, n = 15), baseline to 48 weeks post EoT (876 vs 788 ms, p = 0.0002, n = 13) and 24 weeks post EoT to 48 weeks post EoT (806 vs 788 ms, p = 0.016, n = 13). Between baseline and 48 weeks EoT significant reduction in liver fat (5.17% vs 2.65%, p = 0.027) and an increase in reported LIC (0.913 vs 0.950 mg/g, p = 0.021) was observed., Conclusion: Liver cT 1 decreases in patients with chronic HCV undergoing successful DAA treatment. The relatively fast reduction in cT 1 suggests a reduction in inflammation rather than regression of fibrosis.

Background & Aims: Liver cT 1 , liver T 1 , transient elastography (TE) and blood-based biomarkers have independently been shown to predict clinical outcomes but have not been directly compared in a single cohort of patients. Our aim was to compare these tests' prognostic value in a cohort of patients with compensated chronic liver disease., Methods: Patients with unselected compensated liver disease aetiologies had baseline assessments and were followed up for development of clinical outcomes, blinded to the imaging results. The prognostic value of non-invasive liver tests at prespecified thresholds was assessed for a combined clinical endpoint comprising ascites, variceal bleeding, hepatic encephalopathy, hepatocellular carcinoma, liver transplantation and mortality., Results: One hundred and ninety-seven patients (61% male) with median age of 54 years were followed up for 693 patient-years (median (IQR) 43 (26-58) months). The main diagnoses were NAFLD (41%), viral hepatitis (VH, 25%) and alcohol-related liver disease (ArLD; 14%). During follow-up 14 new clinical events, and 11 deaths occurred. Clinical outcomes were predicted by liver cT 1  > 825ms with HR 9.9 (95% CI: 1.29-76.4, P = .007), TE > 8kPa with HR 7.8 (95% CI: 0.97-62.3, P = .02) and FIB-4 > 1.45 with HR 4.09 (95% CI: 0.90-18.4, P = .05). In analysis taking into account technical failure and unreliability, liver cT 1  > 825 ms could predict clinical outcomes (P = .03), but TE > 8kPa could not (P = .4)., Conclusions: We provide further evidence that liver cT 1 , TE and serum-based biomarkers can predict clinical outcomes, but when taking into account technical failure/unreliability, TE cut-offs perform worse than those of cT 1 and blood biomarkers., (© 2020 The Authors. Liver International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

A significant unmet need exists for accurate, reproducible, noninvasive diagnostic tools to assess and monitor portal hypertension (PHT). We report the first use of quantitative MRI markers for the haemodynamic assessment of nonselective beta-blockers (NSBB) in PHT. In a randomized parallel feasibility study in 22 adult patients with PHT and a clinical indication for NSBB, we acquired haemodynamic data at baseline and after 4 weeks of NSBB (propranolol or carvedilol) using phase-contrast MR angiography (PC-MRA) in selected intra-abdominal vessels. T1 mapping of liver and spleen was undertaken to assess changes in tissue composition. Target NSBB dose was achieved in 82%. There was a substantial reduction from baseline in mean average flow in the superior abdominal aorta after 4 weeks of NSBB therapy (4.49 ± 0.98 versus 3.82 ± 0.86 L/min, P = 0.03) but there were no statistically significant differences in flow in any other vessels, even in patients with >25% decrease in heart rate (47% of patients). Mean percentage change in liver and spleen T1 following NSBB was small and highly variable. In conclusion, PC-MRA was able to detect reduction in cardiac output by NSBB but did not detect significant changes in visceral blood flow or T1. This trial was registered with the ISRCTN registry (ISRCTN98001632).