Authors:	Boeckmans, Joost Sandrin, Laurent Knackstedt, Christian Schattenberg, Jörn M.
Title:	Liver stiffness as a cornerstone in heart disease risk assessment
Online publication date:	17-Jan-2024
Year of first publication:	2023
Language:	english
Abstract:	Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) typically pre-sents with hepatic fibrosis in advanced disease, resulting in increased liver stiffness. A subset of patients further develops liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Cardiovascular disease is a common comorbidity in patients with MASLD and its prev-alence is increasing in parallel. Recent evidence suggests that especially liver stiffness, whether or not existing against a background of MASLD, is associated with heart dis-eases. We conducted a narrative review on the role of liver stiffness in the prediction of highly prevalent heart diseases including heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias (in par-ticular atrial fibrillation), coronary heart disease, and aortic valve sclerosis. Research papers were retrieved from major scientific databases (PubMed, Web of Science) until September 2023 using ‘liver stiffness’ and ‘liver fibrosis’ as keywords along with the latter cardiac conditions. Increased liver stiffness, determined by vibration-controlled transient elastography or hepatic fibrosis as predicted by biomarker panels, are associ-ated with a variety of cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and coronary heart disease. Elevated liver stiffness in patients with metabolic liver disease should lead to considerations of cardiac workup including N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide/B-type natriuretic peptide determination, electrocardiog-raphy, and coronary computed tomography angiography. In addition, patients with MASLD would benefit from heart disease case-finding strategies in which liver stiff-ness measurements can play a key role. In conclusion, increased liver stiffness should be a trigger to consider a cardiac workup in metabolically compromised patients.
DDC:	610 Medizin 610 Medical sciences
Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Department:	FB 04 Medizin
Place:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-9733
Version:	Published version
Publication type:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
License:	CC BY
Information on rights of use:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Journal:	Liver international Version of Record (VoR)
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher place:	Oxford
Issue date:	2023
ISSN:	1478-3223
Publisher DOI:	10.1111/liv.15801
Appears in collections:	DFG-491381577-H