DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY OF THE NON-INVASIVE MARKERS NFLS, NI-NASH-DS, AND FIB-4 FOR ASSESSMENT OF DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF...

Area of Science:

• Hepatology
• Bariatric Surgery
• Diagnostic Accuracy

Background:

• Non-invasive markers are crucial for assessing liver abnormalities in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
• Obesity is a significant risk factor for NAFLD and its complications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of non-invasive NAFLD markers.
• Assessed markers include NAFLD liver fat score (NLFS), NI-NASH-DS, and FIB-4.
• Study population: individuals with obesity undergoing bariatric surgery.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cross-sectional study of 91 bariatric surgery patients.
• Calculated NLFS, NI-NASH-DS, and FIB-4 using clinical, laboratory, and anthropometric data.
• Compared marker accuracy against histopathological evaluation (gold standard).

Main Results:

• High prevalence of steatosis (92.3%) and fibrosis (90.1%) observed.
• 23.1% of patients diagnosed with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
• FIB-4 accuracy for advanced fibrosis: 95.4%. NLFS accuracy for steatosis: 58.2-61.5%. NI-NASH-DS accuracy for NASH: 74.7%.

Conclusions:

• FIB-4 score demonstrates high accuracy for advanced liver fibrosis in obese patients.
• NLFS and NI-NASH-DS show moderate accuracy for steatosis and NASH, respectively.
• Non-invasive markers can aid in assessing liver health in bariatric surgery candidates.