[TRANSIENT ELASTOGRAPHY – FUTURE OF DIAGNOSIS OF LIVER LESIONS OR JUST AN ATTEMPT]

Comprehensive care that each general practitioner offers to his patients includes familiarity with different methods of diagnosis. In diagnosis today there are frequent indications of various liver scarring which first need to be diagnosed correctly and then treated and monitored over time. Chronic liver diseases are among the top ten causes of death in developed countries and one of the leading public health issues in the world. In Croatia, fibrosis and cirrhosis ranked 10th among causes of death in 2013, accounting for 1.95% of all deaths and even 3.11% in men. The degree of liver fibrosis is the most direct and the best way to indicate the seriousness of liver scarring, while prognosis depends on advancement of fibrosis. In this paper, we attempted to explain a noninvasive method called transient elastography (TE), its basic properties, advantages and disadvantages, diagnostic precision, as well as its application in medical practice. Currently, TE may be used as a diagnostic method for elimination of cirrhosis and may help determine severe fibrosis in patients with alcohol liver disease. By using two noninvasive diagnostic methods, it is possible to assess the stage of fibrosis (F ≥2) with high accuracy and avoid up to three-fourths of biopsy procedures. However, before including TE in the algorithm of diagnosis, it is necessary to define the standardized cut off values for different stages of liver scarring.