Increased liver stiffness in alcoholic liver disease: Dissecting fibrosis from steatohepatitis

Background and aims: The use of liver stiffness (LS) for the rapid and non-invasive assessment of liver cirrhosis is complicated by interference of coexisting inflammation and cholestasis. We here identify simple clinical criteria to dissect fibrosis from steatohepatitis in patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and increased liver stiffness. Methods and results: Sequential LS analysis was performed in 50 patients with ALD admitted for alcohol detoxification before and after normalization of serum transaminases. LS decreased in almost all patients within the observation interval of 5.3 days (mean decease 3.…