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THURSDAY, Feb. 20, 2020 (HealthDay News) — A heterogeneous pattern on ultrasound examination of the liver may help identify children with cystic fibrosis (CF) at increased risk for developing advanced CF liver disease, according to a study published online Feb. 12 in The Journal of Pediatrics<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Marilyn J. Siegel, M.D., from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and colleagues conducted a planned four-year interim analysis of a nine-year multicenter, case-controlled cohort study (Prospective Study of Ultrasound to Predict Hepatic Cirrhosis in CF). Fifty-five participants with a heterogeneous liver ultrasound pattern were matched (by age, Pseudomonas<\/i> infection status, and center) with 116 participants with a normal ultrasound pattern.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that alanine aminotransferase (42 U\/L versus 32 U\/L), gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (36 U\/L versus 15 U\/L), and aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (0.7 versus 0.4) were higher in participants with a heterogeneous liver ultrasound pattern versus participants with a normal liver ultrasound pattern. There was more than a ninefold increased incidence of a nodular pattern among participants with a heterogeneous liver ultrasound pattern (23 percent in heterogeneous liver ultrasound pattern versus 2.6 percent in normal liver ultrasound pattern).<\/p>\n
“The findings show that we have found an important way to project which patients might develop cystic fibrosis liver disease,” a coauthor said in a statement. “It also gives us clinical therapeutic targets for interventional therapies that could prevent the development of this liver disease.”<\/p>\n
Two authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.<\/p>\n
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