Biases of Shear Wave vs Transient Elastography in fibrosis assessment of patients with fatty liver disease

Background: The assessment of fibrosis in chronic liver diseases using non-invasive methods is an important topic in hepatology. Aim: To compare Shear Wave and Transient elastography and in what the possible measurement biases and discordance factors are concerned. Material and Methods: This study enrolled 139 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, who underwent assessment of hepatic fibrosis by Shear Wave and Transient elastography. Results: The results obtained by the two methods were correlated in the most cases, but discordance in one or more degrees of fibrosis stage was also found. The multiple correlations analysis regarding the predictors of discordance indicated that a significant influence was exercised by the fibrosis degree, steatosis, BMI and necroinflammatory activity. Conclusions: Shear Wave and Transient elastography appear as comparably reliable methods for assessment of liver fibrosis, but there are possible discrepancies in evaluating fibrosis stage.