Transient Elastography for Spleen Stiffness Measurement in Patients With Cirrhosis: Role in Degree of Thrombocytopenia

Different impacts of common risk factors associated with thrombocytopenia in patients with hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infection

BACKGROUND

Thrombocytopenia is a common extrahepatic manifestation in chronic liver disease. However, there have been rare studies of impacts of risk for hepatitis C virus-associated thrombocytopenia (HCV-TP) and hepatitis B virus-associated thrombocytopenia (HBV-TP). The aim of this study is to evaluate different impacts of risk factors for HCV-TP and HBV-TP.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We retrospectively collected 1803 HCV patients and 1652 HBV patients to examine the risk factors for time to moderate and severe thrombocytopenia (platelet counts <100 × 10⁹/L and <50 × 10⁹/L, respectively) by Cox proportional hazards models. Moreover, we prospectively enrolled 63 HCV-TP patients, 11 HBV-TP patients, and 27 HCV controls to detect specific antiplatelet antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and analyze their effects.

RESULTS

Prevalence of platelet <100 × 10⁹/L was 11.86% and 6.35% in HCV and HBV patients without cancer history, respectively. HCV-to-HBV incidence rate ratio for thrombocytopenia was 6.95. Initial thrombocytopenia was the most significant risk factor for HCV-TP and HBV-TP regardless of thrombocytopenia severity. Splenomegaly and cirrhosis were significant risk factors for moderate, but not severe HCV-TP. Hyperbilirubinemia was an important moderate and severe HBV-TP risk factor. Antiplatelet antibodies were correlated with HCV-TP severity, of which anti-glycoprotein IIb/IIIa antibody being associated with smaller spleen size. This antiplatelet autoantibody might contribute thrombocytopenia either independently or with splenomegaly as the important risk in HCV-TP patients without advanced cirrhosis.

CONCLUSION

HCV was associated with higher thrombocytopenia incidence than HBV. Thrombocytopenia risk factors varied with virus type and severity. Different management for HCV-TP and HBV-TP was suggested.

A study on spleen transient elastography in predicting the degree of esophageal varices and bleeding

This study aims to investigate the value and determine the accuracy of spleen stiffness in predicting the degree of esophageal varices and bleeding in patients with liver cirrhosis.The age, gender, liver stiffness, spleen stiffness, and gastroscopy results of 124 inpatients or outpatients with liver cirrhosis and healthy volunteers, who underwent both gastroscopy and FibroScan testing in the fasting state, were retrospectively analyzed. According to the gastroscopy results, the patients and healthy volunteers were divided into six groups: varicose bleeding, severe varices, moderate varices, mild varices, no varices, and healthy control group. Then, the receiver operating characteristic curves were drawn, and the corresponding area under each curve was calculated and evaluated to predict the severity of varices based on the relevance of the area and its parameters.The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of liver stiffness and spleen stiffness for predicting severe and moderate varices in the bleeding group was 0.955 and 0.989, respectively. The cut-off values were 29.6 kPa and 45.5 kPa, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of liver stiffness for predicting varicose bleeding was 0.860 (95% CI: 0.789-0.931). The liver stiffness cut-off value for predicting varicose bleeding was 33.2 kPa, with a specificity and sensitivity of 66.02% and 95.24%, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of spleen stiffness for predicting varicose bleeding was 0.923 (95% CI: 0.875-0.971). A spleen stiffness cut-off value of 55.2 kPa had a sensitivity and specificity of 90.48% and 86.41%, respectively.Spleen stiffness can predict the degree of esophageal varices and bleeding in liver cirrhosis patients, and has good predictive accuracy.

Spleen Stiffness Measurement Using 2-Dimensional Shear Wave Elastography: The Predictors of Measurability and the Normal Spleen Stiffness Value

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the success rate of spleen stiffness measurement and factors that affect measurement success and to determine the spleen stiffness value of normal individuals by 2-dimensional shear wave elastography.

METHODS

The spleen and liver stiffnesses of 313 consecutive patients were measured with SWE. The body mass index, abdominal wall thickness, spleen size, and liver stiffness of the patients were evaluated to identify factors associated with successful measurement of spleen stiffness. Patients were grouped by body mass index, spleen size, and liver stiffness, and the success rates and mean spleen stiffness values of the groups were compared. Independent predictors for successful spleen stiffness measurement and their cutoff values were evaluated. The mean spleen stiffness values of patients considered to have normal spleen stiffness were investigated.

RESULTS

The overall success rate of spleen stiffness measurement was 52.9%. It was significantly higher in nonobese than in obese patients and in patients with splenomegaly and liver cirrhosis. The spleen stiffness value was higher in the splenomegaly group than the nonsplenomegaly group (P < .001) and increased as liver stiffness increased (P < .001). There was no significant difference in spleen stiffness values between the obese and nonobese groups. Abdominal wall thickness and splenic longitudinal diameter were identified as independent predictors of successful spleen stiffness measurement, and their cutoff values were 17.2 mm or less and greater than 9.4 cm, respectively. The mean spleen stiffness value ± SD of the normal patient group was 20.5 ± 5.4 kPa.

CONCLUSIONS

The success rate of spleen stiffness measurement is lower than that of liver stiffness measurement. Spleen stiffness measurement is affected by abdominal wall thickness and spleen size.