Abstract 13304: Liver Dispersion Predicts Adverse Outcomes in Patients With Heart Failure

Abstract

Background: It has been recently reported that liver stiffness assessed by transient elastography reflects right atrial pressure (RAP), and is associated with worse outcome in patients with heart failure (HF). However, the relationship between liver dispersion (LD, a novel indicator of liver viscosity) determined by abdominal ultrasonography and RAP, and prognostic impacts of LD on HF patients have not been fully examined. We aimed to clarify associations of LD with parameters of liver functional test (LFT) and right-heart catheterization (RHC), and cardiac event such as cardiac death and worsening HF in patients with HF. Methods and Results: We performed abdominal ultrasonography, LFT, RHC, and followed up cardiac events including cardiac death and unplanned hospitalization due to HF in patients with HF (n=157). We examined associations of LD with parameters of LFT and RHC. There were significant correlations between LD and circulating levels of gamma-glutamyl transferase (R=0.197, P=0.018), cholinesterase (R=-0.301, P=0.001), and 7S domain of collagen type IV (P4NP 7S, a marker of fibrosis, R=0.334, P<0.001), but not with RAP (R=0.067, P=0.514) or cardiac index (R=-0.038, P=0.667). During the follow up period (median 305 days), 6 cardiac deaths and 18 unplanned hospitalization due to HF occurred. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis ( Figure ), cardiac event rate was significantly higher in the high LD group (LD ≥10.0 (m/s)/kHz, n=79) than in the low LD group (LD < 10.0 (m/s)/kHz, n=78; log-rank, P=0.007). In the multivariable Cox proportional hazard analysis, high LD was found to be an independent predictor of cardiac event (hazard ratio 3.274, 95% confidence interval 1.203-8.912, P=0.020). Conclusions: LD assessed by abdominal ultrasonography reflects liver fibrosis rather than liver congestion, and is associated with adverse prognosis in HF patients.