Non invasive evaluation of liver fibrosis in paediatric patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

• Published in: World journal of gastroenterology : WJG Vol. 12; no. 48; pp. 7821 - 7825
• Main Authors: Iacobellis, Angelo, Marcellini, Matilde, Andriulli, Angelo, Perri, Francesco, Leandro, Gioacchino, Devito, Rita, Nobili, Valerio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Division of Gastroenterology, Hospital "Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza",IRCCS, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy%Liver Unit, Bambino Gesu'Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy%Division of Gastroenterology, "De Bellis"Hospital, IRCCS, Castellana Grotte, Italy%Pathology Department Bambino Gesu' Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy 28-12-2006; Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited
• Subjects: Adolescent; Biopsy; Body Mass Index; Body Weight - physiology; Child; Disease Progression; Fatty Liver - complications; Fatty Liver - metabolism; Fatty Liver - physiopathology; Female; Glucose - metabolism; Humans; Liver - metabolism; Liver - pathology; Liver - physiopathology; Liver Cirrhosis - etiology; Liver Cirrhosis - metabolism; Liver Cirrhosis - physiopathology; Male; Multivariate Analysis; Predictive Value of Tests; Rapid Communication; Risk Factors; 肝纤维; 非酒精依赖; Obesity; Body mass index; Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; Liver fibrosis; Non invasive diagnosis
• ISSN: 1007-9327; 2219-2840
• DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i48.7821

AIM： To identify the independent predictors of hepatic fibrosis in 69 children with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis （NASH） due to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease （NAFLD）.
METHODS： All patients with clinically suspected NASH underwent liver biopsy as a confirmatory test. The following clinical and biochemical variables at baseline were examined as likely predictors of fibrosis at histology： age, body mass index （BMI）, systolic blood pressure （SBP）, dyastolic blood pressure （DBP）, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistence （HOMA-IR）, cholesterol, tryglicerides, alanine aminotransferase （ALT）, aspartate aminotransferase （AST）, AST/ALT ratio, gamma glutamil transferase （GT）, platelet count, prothrombin time （PT）.
RESULTS： At histology 28 （40.6%） patients had no fibrosis and 41 （59.4%） had mild to bridging fibrosis. At multivariate analysis, BMI 〉 26.3 was the only independent predictor of fibrosis （OR = 5.85, 95% CI = 1.6-21）.
CONCLUSION： BMI helps identify children with NASH who might have fibrotic deposition in the liver.