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Background & Aims: Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) and transient elastography (TE) are noninvasive techniques used to detect liver fibrosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. MRE detects fibrosis more accurately than TE, but MRE is more expensive, and the concordance between MRE and TE have not been optimally assessed in obese patients. It is important to determine under which conditions TE and MRE produce the same readings, so that some patients can simply undergo TE evaluation to detect fibrosis. We aimed to assess the association between body mass index (BMI) and discordancy between MRE and TE findings, using liver biopsy as the reference, and validated our findings in a separate cohort., Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of 119 adults with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease who underwent MRE, TE with M and XL probe, and liver biopsy analysis from October 2011 through January 2017 (training cohort). MRE and TE results were considered to be concordant if they found patients to have the same stage fibrosis as liver biopsy analysis. We validated our findings in 75 adults with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease who underwent contemporaneous MRE, TE, and liver biopsy at a separate institution from March 2010 through May 2013. The primary outcome was rate of discordance between MRE and TE in determining stage of fibrosis (stage 2-4 vs 0-1). Secondary outcomes were the rate of discordance between MRE and TE in determining dichotomized stage of fibrosis (1-4 vs 0, 3-4 vs 0-2, and 4 vs 0-3)., Results: In the training cohort, there was 43.7% discordance in findings from MRE versus TE. BMI associated significantly with discordance in findings from MRE versus TE (odds ratio, 1.69; 95% confidence interval, 1.15-2.51; P = .008) after multivariable adjustment by age and sex. The findings were confirmed in the validation cohort: there was 45.3% discordance in findings from MRE versus TE. BMI again associated significantly with discordance in findings from MRE versus TE (odds ratio, 1.52; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-2.21; P = .029) after multivariable adjustment by age and sex., Conclusions: We identified and validated BMI as a factor significantly associated with discordance of findings from MRE versus TE in assessment of fibrosis stage. The degree of discordancy increases with BMI., (Copyright © 2018 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background & Aims: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques and ultrasound-based transient elastography (TE) can be used in noninvasive diagnosis of fibrosis and steatosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We performed a prospective study to compare the performance of magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) vs TE for diagnosis of fibrosis, and MRI-based proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) analysis vs TE-based controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) for diagnosis of steatosis in patients undergoing biopsy to assess NAFLD., Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of 104 consecutive adults (56.7% female) who underwent MRE, TE, and liver biopsy analysis (using the histologic scoring system for NAFLD from the Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network Scoring System) from October 2011 through May 2016 at a tertiary medical center. All patients received a standard clinical evaluation, including collection of history, anthropometric examination, and biochemical tests. The primary outcomes were fibrosis and steatosis. Secondary outcomes included dichotomized stages of fibrosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis vs no nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were used to compare performances of MRE vs TE in diagnosis of fibrosis (stages 1-4 vs 0) and MRI-PDFF vs CAP for diagnosis of steatosis (grades 1-3 vs 0) with respect to findings from biopsy analysis., Results: MRE detected any fibrosis (stage 1 or more) with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.74-0.91), which was significantly higher than that of TE (AUROC, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.56-0.78). MRI-PDFF detected any steatosis with an AUROC of 0.99 (95% CI, 0.98-1.00), which was significantly higher than that of CAP (AUROC, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.75-0.96). MRE detected fibrosis of stages 2, 3, or 4 with AUROC values of 0.89 (95% CI, 0.83-0.96), 0.87 (95% CI, 0.78-0.96), and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.71-1.00); TE detected fibrosis of stages 2, 3, or 4 with AUROC values of 0.86 (95% CI, 0.77-0.95), 0.80 (95% CI, 0.67-0.93), and 0.69 (95% CI, 0.45-0.94). MRI-PDFF identified steatosis of grades 2 or 3 with AUROC values of 0.90 (95% CI, 0.82-0.97) and 0.92 (95% CI, 0.84-0.99); CAP identified steatosis of grades 2 or 3 with AUROC values of 0.70 (95% CI, 0.58-0.82) and 0.73 (95% CI, 0.58-0.89)., Conclusions: In a prospective, cross-sectional study of more than 100 patients, we found MRE to be more accurate than TE in identification of liver fibrosis (stage 1 or more), using biopsy analysis as the standard. MRI-PDFF is more accurate than CAP in detecting all grades of steatosis in patients with NAFLD., (Copyright © 2017 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Randomized and open-label studies assessing prolotherapy for knee osteoarthritis have found quantitative improvement on the validated Western Ontario McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) compared with baseline status and control therapies. This study assessed the qualitative response of participants receiving prolotherapy, an injection-based complementary treatment for symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA)., Design: Qualitative study using semi-structured in-depth interviews at 52 weeks after enrollment; transcribed responses were discussed by coauthors to identify themes; disagreement was resolved by consensus., Setting: Outpatient., Participants: Twenty-two participants treated with prolotherapy for symptomatic knee OA who were exited from three randomized and open-label studies., Interventions: Intra- and extra-articular hypertonic dextrose injection (prolotherapy)., Main Outcome Measures: Patient narrative and composite WOMAC questionnaire (0-100 points) scores., Results: Participants had baseline demographic and knee OA severity similar to those of participants in three prior intervention trials, as well as similar robust follow-up WOMAC score change (19.9 ± 12.6 points), suggesting a representative subsample. Seven themes were identified from participant narratives: (1) improvement in knee-specific quality of life (n = 18), (2) safety and comfort, (3) pretreatment counseling enhanced treatment adherence and optimism, (4) overall positive experience with prolotherapy, (5) limited response to prolotherapy (n = 4), (6) consistency with anecdotal clinical prolotherapy experience; and (7) functional improvement without pain reduction., Conclusions: Most participants reported substantially improved knee-specific effects, resulting in improved quality of life and activities of daily living; four participants reported minimal or no effect. Clear, complete description of procedural rationale may enhance optimism about and adherence to treatment appointments., Competing Interests: Author Disclosure Statement No competing financial interests exist.