TY - JOUR
T1 - Population screening for liver fibrosis
T2 - Toward early diagnosis and intervention for chronic liver diseases
AU - for the LiverScreen Consortium Investigators
AU - Ginès, Pere
AU - Castera, Laurent
AU - Lammert, Frank
AU - Graupera, Isabel
AU - Serra-Burriel, Miquel
AU - Allen, Alina M.
AU - Wong, Vincent Wai Sun
AU - Hartmann, Phillipp
AU - Thiele, Maja
AU - Caballeria, Llorenç
AU - de Knegt, Robert J.
AU - Grgurevic, Ivica
AU - Augustin, Salvador
AU - Tsochatzis, Emmanuel A.
AU - Schattenberg, Jörn M.
AU - Guha, Indra Neil
AU - Martini, Andrea
AU - Morillas, Rosa M.
AU - Garcia-Retortillo, Montserrat
AU - de Koning, Harry J.
AU - Fabrellas, Núria
AU - Pich, Judit
AU - Ma, Ann T.
AU - Diaz, M. Alba
AU - Roulot, Dominique
AU - Newsome, Philip N.
AU - Manns, Michael
AU - Kamath, Patrick S.
AU - Krag, Aleksander
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Hepatology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Cirrhosis, highly prevalent worldwide, develops after years of hepatic inflammation triggering progressive fibrosis. Currently, the main etiologies of cirrhosis are non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and alcohol-related liver disease, although chronic hepatitis B and C infections are still major etiological factors in some areas of the world. Recent studies have shown that liver fibrosis can be assessed with relatively high accuracy noninvasively by serological tests, transient elastography, and radiological methods. These modalities may be utilized for screening for liver fibrosis in at-risk populations. Thus far, a limited number of population-based studies using noninvasive tests in different areas of the world indicate that a significant percentage of subjects without known liver disease (around 5% in general populations and a higher rate −18% to 27%-in populations with risk factors for liver disease) have significant undetected liver fibrosis or established cirrhosis. Larger international studies are required to show the harms and benefits before concluding that screening for liver fibrosis should be applied to populations at risk for chronic liver diseases. Screening for liver fibrosis has the potential for changing the current approach from diagnosing chronic liver diseases late when patients have already developed complications of cirrhosis to diagnosing liver fibrosis in asymptomatic subjects providing the opportunity of preventing disease progression.
AB - Cirrhosis, highly prevalent worldwide, develops after years of hepatic inflammation triggering progressive fibrosis. Currently, the main etiologies of cirrhosis are non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and alcohol-related liver disease, although chronic hepatitis B and C infections are still major etiological factors in some areas of the world. Recent studies have shown that liver fibrosis can be assessed with relatively high accuracy noninvasively by serological tests, transient elastography, and radiological methods. These modalities may be utilized for screening for liver fibrosis in at-risk populations. Thus far, a limited number of population-based studies using noninvasive tests in different areas of the world indicate that a significant percentage of subjects without known liver disease (around 5% in general populations and a higher rate −18% to 27%-in populations with risk factors for liver disease) have significant undetected liver fibrosis or established cirrhosis. Larger international studies are required to show the harms and benefits before concluding that screening for liver fibrosis should be applied to populations at risk for chronic liver diseases. Screening for liver fibrosis has the potential for changing the current approach from diagnosing chronic liver diseases late when patients have already developed complications of cirrhosis to diagnosing liver fibrosis in asymptomatic subjects providing the opportunity of preventing disease progression.
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U2 - 10.1002/hep.32163
DO - 10.1002/hep.32163
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34537988
AN - SCOPUS:85119260132
SN - 0270-9139
VL - 75
SP - 219
EP - 228
JO - Hepatology
JF - Hepatology
IS - 1
ER -