Review
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World J Gastroenterol. Apr 21, 2014; 20(15): 4300-4315
Published online Apr 21, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i15.4300
Invasive and non-invasive diagnosis of cirrhosis and portal hypertension
Moon Young Kim, Woo Kyoung Jeong, Soon Koo Baik
Moon Young Kim, Soon Koo Baik, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medcine, Wonju Severance Christan Hospital, Wonju 220-701, South Korea
Woo Kyoung Jeong, Department of Radiology and Center for Imaging Science, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 440-746, South Korea
Author contributions: Baik SK manuscript drafting or manuscript revision for important intellectual conten; all authors contributed to the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Soon Koo Baik, MD, PhD, Professor Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju Severance Christan Hospital, 20, Ilsan-ro, Wonju 220-701, South Korea. baiksk@yonsei.ac.kr
Telephone: +82-33-7411229 Fax: +82-33-7451228
Received: October 2, 2013
Revised: January 20, 2014
Accepted: February 17, 2014
Published online: April 21, 2014
Core Tip

Core tip: Chronic liver disease is a heterogeneous and dynamic condition. So, noninvasive exact estimations of the status and changes in hepatic fibrosis and portal hypertension are essential in the management of this disease. Recently, a few tests, such as liver stiffness measurement based on transient elastography (TE) or magnetic resonance have shown promising results in this field. However, the reproducibility of these non-invasive tests needs to be validated in diverse clinical situations and etiologies. Especially, it is important to study about the long term prognostic value of non-invasive tests in hepatic fibrosis and portal hypertension that can leads to new paradigm in the tailored management of chronic liver disease. Notably, the integration of serologic tests with other non-invasive tests, such as TE, allows the progression in the management of patients with chronic liver disease in the future.