Assessment of imaging modalities against liver biopsy

Commentary

Multiparametric MRI is a promising technique to assess hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis, potentially enabling non-invasive identification of individuals with active and advanced stages of NAFLD.

The aim of the current proof-of-principle study by M. A. Troelstra et al. (Amsterdam University Medical Centres, The Netherlands) was to assess the use of multi- parametric MRI and determine the best-performing imaging parameters for identifying the full NAFLD disease spectrum in a subgroup of the Amsterdam NAFLD-NASH cohort.

Overall, the results indicate that multiparametric MRI is a promising non-invasive method for the accurate assessment of steatosis and fibrosis severity, as well as ballooning. This technique appears to have the potential to distinguish between simple hepatic steatosis and NASH.