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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 14, 2015; 21(42): 11914-11923
Published online Nov 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i42.11914
Noninvasive assessment of alcoholic liver disease using unidimensional transient elastography (Fibroscan®)
Monica Lupsor-Platon, Radu Badea
Monica Lupsor-Platon, Radu Badea, Department of Medical Imaging, Regional Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Prof. Dr. Octavian Fodor, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400162 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Author contributions: Lupsor-Platon M analyzed the literature and wrote the manuscript; and Badea R critically revised the paper and added comments.
Supported by European Social Found, Human Resources Development Operational Programme 2007-2013, project No. POSDRU/159/1.5/S/138776.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to report.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Monica Lupsor-Platon, MD, PhD, Department of Medical Imaging, Regional Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Prof. Dr. Octavian Fodor, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, 19-21 Croitorilor Street, 400162 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. monica.lupsor@umfcluj.ro
Telephone: +40-742-075201 Fax: +40-264-439889
Received: May 9, 2015
Peer-review started: May 11, 2015
First decision: July 13, 2015
Revised: July 27, 2015
Accepted: September 14, 2015
Article in press: September 14, 2015
Published online: November 14, 2015
Processing time: 186 Days and 7.3 Hours
Abstract

Unidimensional transient elastography (TE) is a noninvasive technique, which has been increasingly used in the assessment of diffuse liver diseases. This paper focuses on reviewing the existing data on the use of TE in the diagnosis of fibrosis and in monitoring disease progression in alcoholic liver disease, on the factors that may influence the result of fibrosis prediction, and last but not least, on its potential use in assessing the steatosis degree. Therefore, this field is far from being exhausted and deserves more attention. Further studies are required, on large groups of biopsied patients, in order to find answers to all the remaining questions in this field.

Keywords: Transient elastography; Alcoholic liver disease; Fibrosis; Steatosis; Liver stiffness; Controlled attenuation parameter

Core tip: This review article summarizes the existing data on the use of transient elastography in the noninvasive assessment of fibrosis and steatosis in alcoholic liver disease and highlights the still open questions in this field.