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TRANSIENT ELASTOGRAPHY – FUTURE OF DIAGNOSIS OF LIVER LESIONS OR JUST AN ATTEMPT
TINA ZAVIDIĆ
; Istria Health Centers, Pazin, Croatia
ĐINO LOVRINIĆ
orcid.org/0000-0003-0232-5696
; Specialist Family Medicine Office, Pazin, Croatia
Abstract
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 fi rst 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, fi brosis 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 fi brosis is the most direct and the best way to indicate the seriousness of liver scarring, while prognosis depends on advancement of fi brosis. 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 fi brosis in patients with alcohol liver disease. By using two noninvasive diagnostic methods, it is possible to assess the stage of fi brosis (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 defi ne the standardized cut off values for different stages of liver scarring.
Keywords
elasticity imaging techniques/methods; liver cirrhosis; liver; biopsy; fibrosis
Hrčak ID:
154184
URI
Publication date:
12.3.2016.
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