Diagnostic accuracy for alcoholic liver disease with controlled Attenuation Parameter (CAP) measured by transient elastography for the non-invasive assessment of liver steatosis

Abstract Along with the development of interferon and therapeutic medication, the incidence of viral hepatitis constituting the largest part of liver disease decreased, and the main target in the field of liver disease is now shifting from viral hepatitis to alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as metabolic liver disease. Although these diseases tend.to. be gathered as non-viral liver disease because the similar specific liver tissue, the natural history and etiology are considerably different between them. We need to distinguish both of them to do appropriate treatment intervention. Questioning of amount of drinking is needed, but we experience some difficult cases to understand drinking history because of a too little declaration of amount of drinking. A new ultrasonic image analyses using propagation speed in the organization of the pulse vibration wave was developed as Fibroscan by Echosens company in recent years. Fibroscan is a non-invasive test to quantify liver fibrosis as Liver Stiffness Measurement (LSM). It also detects and quantifies steatosis simultaneously using the Controlled Attenuation Parameter (CAP). CAP is a measurement of the ultrasound attenuation. We measured liver steatosis of patients using Fibroscan, and other blood tests. 63 cases of ALD, 177 cases of NAFLD, 57 cases of Virus and 271 cases of Normal were enrolled. CAP value were significantly lower in the ALD group compared with NAFLD group. (P < 0.0053, ALD 268 dB/m : NAFLD 290 dB/m) We elucidate the diagnostic accuracy of CAP using Fibroscan for ALD patients, comparing the results of them to those of virus patients and NAFLD patients.