The Role of Ultrasound Elastography in the Assessment of Chronic Liver Disease in Children

Chronic liver disease is a significant health issue among children and it can result in fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver failure. Since the prognosis and monitoring of these diseases are different from each other, The term chronic liver disease (CLD) implies a long standing irreversible change in the hepatic structure that may end in complications like cirrhosis leading to premature death. While liver needle biopsy is still recognised to be the gold standard for the assessment of liver fibrosis in the diagnosis and follow-up of chronic liver diseases, researchers tend to study non-invasive methods in the determination of liver fibrosis, as liver needle biopsy is an invasive, painful and expensive procedure, which can cause possible sampling errors and potential complications , Conventional ultrasonography is preferred for the investigation of chronic liver diseases in children, as it is non-invasive, cheap, feasible and available. Elastography, an ultrasonographic non-invasive procedure that measures tissue stiffness.

Liver fibrosis is a result of chronic damage, and attacks and remissions throughout the course of the disease trigger the formation of fibrosis. Apart from being a direct indicator of liver damage, fibrosis has an important role in the development of hepatocyte dysfunction and portal hypertension. In a clinical aspect, knowing the state and progress of fibrosis is important in the assessment of treatment response for the severity and the prognosis of the disease. The degree of fibrosis in the liver is important in the determination of prognosis, and management of the process in chronic liver disease. Patients with fibrosis benefit from treatment in case of early diagnosis.

Ultrasound Elastography is a non-invasive method.