Method for diagnosing non-alcoholic liver steatosis

Abstract

Purpose of the study.Development of a non-invasive method for the diagnosis of non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis.Material and methods.The study involved 21 patients with confrmed non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis on ultrasound examination with an average age of 42.1 ± 10.1 years. The control group consisted of 10 apparently healthy individuals. The following indicators were determined: body mass index (BMI), the level of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGTP), vasculoendothelial growth factor (VEGF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in serum, and the steatosis index (IS) was calculated using the formula IS = –1.2390 + 0.0575 × BMI + 0.0064 × GGTP +0.0006 × VEGF + 0.0001 × IL-6. The index of the presence of hepatic steatosis according to liver ultrasound data was used as a dependent variable.Results.According to the examination results, BMI and serum concentrations of GGTP, VEGF, and IL-6 in patients with steatosis were signifcantly higher than in the control group (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, and p < 0.001, respectively), which indicates the presence of cholestasis syndrome, signs of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction. The correlation coeffcient between BMI and the presence of non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis was 0.9; between GGTP and the presence of steatosis was 0.80; between VEGF and the presence of steatosis was 0.85; between IL-6 and the presence of steatosis was 0.80. The predictive value of each parameter of the model was assessed using a scale of values of the area under the ROC-curve (AUC). The model is effective (multiple correlation coeffcient R = 0.809; the share of the influence of the sum of the factors included in the model is R2 • 100 = 65.5%), statistically signifcant (criterion F = 12.318; p < 0.0001) and has excellent diagnostic characteristics.Conclusion.The proposed non-invasive method makes it possible to diagnose hepatic steatosis with a sensitivity of 95.2% and a specifcity of 97.0%: with IS equal to 0.5 or more, the presence of non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis is diagnosed, with IS less than 0.5 is not.