Editorial: Magnetic Resonance Elastography and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Time for an Upgrade?

Elastography techniques, such as two-dimensional magnetic resonance elastography (2D-MRE) are increasingly used for the non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with nonalchoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Loomba et al. demonstrate that 3D-MRE (shear wave frequency 40 Hz) had even greater diagnostic accuracy than the commercially available 2D-MRE (shear wave frequency 60 Hz) in diagnosing advanced fibrosis (area under the receiver operator curve, AUROC 0.981 vs. 0.921, P<0. 05) using liver biopsy as reference standard. Despite limitations, MRE serves as an important tool in risk stratification for patients with NAFLD.