Stein L, Mittal R, Song H, Chung J, Sahota A. To scan or not to scan: Use of transient elastography in an integrated health system. World J Hepatol 2023; 15(3): 419-430 [PMID: 37034236 DOI: 10.4254/wjh.v15.i3.419]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Libby Stein, MD, Doctor, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, 4867 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027, United States. libby.x.stein@kp.org
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Hepatol. Mar 27, 2023; 15(3): 419-430 Published online Mar 27, 2023. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v15.i3.419
Table 1 Patient demographics
Characteristic
Pre-clinical decision support tool (n = 115)
Post-clinical decision support tool (n = 843)
P value
Age, year
58.3 ± 13.78
57.1 ± 14.02
0.3777
Female (%)
53.9
53.3
0.8956
Body mass index
31.6 ± 6.13
33.1 ± 7.10
0.0358
Race (%)
0.4486
African American
4.3
3.3
Asian
19.1
17.4
Hispanic
47.8
56.8
Non-Hispanic White
25.2
19.9
Other, unknown
3.5
2.5
Insurance plan type (%)
0.1312
Commercial, private pay
64.3
64.7
Dual
3.5
5.9
Medicaid
6.1
4.5
Medicare
24.3
24.7
Other, unknown
1.7
0.2
Medical Comorbidities (%)
Chronic hepatitis B
2.6
1.8
0.5415
Chronic hepatitis C
4.3
1.3
0.0172
Diabetes mellitus
45.2
42.4
0.5572
Hepatocellular carcinoma
0
0
Hyperlipidemia
52.2
58.6
0.1891
Liver transplant
0
0.4
0.5212
Obstructive sleep apnea
14.7
13.3
0.6662
Polycystic ovarian syndrome
1.7
0.5
0.1076
Primary biliary cholangitis
0.9
0.4
0.4242
Primary sclerosing cholangitis
0
0
Table 2 FibroScan data
Parameter
Pre-clinical decision support tool (n = 115)
Post-clinical decision support tool (n = 843)
P value
Physician ordering FibroScan (%)
< 0.0001
Primary care
33
67.1
Specialty care
67
32.9
Exam probe used (%)
0.9453
Medium
44.3
44
Extra large (XL)
55.7
56
FibroScan result (%)
Fibrosis score
0.0142
F0
32.2
38.1
F1
7.8
14.2
F2
17.4
17.9
F3
13.9
13.3
F4
28.7
16.5
Steatosis score
< 0.0001
S0
43.5
8.1
S1
4.3
10
S2
8.7
14.7
S3
43.5
67.3
Table 3 Patient morbidity and mortality
Variable
Pre-clinical decision support tool
Post-clinical decision support tool
Patients hospitalized in first year for:
Hepatic encephalopathy
0
1
Variceal bleeding
0
0
Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis
0
0
Liver cancer
0
2
Patients hospitalized at anytime for:
Hepatic encephalopathy
4
4
Variceal bleeding
1
0
Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis
1
0
Liver cancer
0
5
Patients deceased in first year
1
7
Patients deceased at any time
9
17
Table 4 Multivariable analysis
Variable
Fibrosis score
Odds ratio
95% confidence interval
P value
Lab tests
F1 vs F0
0.955
0.621-1.469
0.8354
F2 vs F0
1.055
0.711-1.566
0.7886
F3 vs F0
1.507
0.946-2.4
0.0845
F4 vs F0
2.477
1.522-3.953
0.0001
Imaging study
F1 vs F0
0.825
0.506-1.343
0.4386
F2 vs F0
1.287
0.855-1.937
0.2259
F3 vs F0
4.703
3.064-7.218
< 0.0001
F4 vs F0
7.188
4.793-10.78
< 0.0001
Gastroenterology referral
F1 vs F0
2.362
0.909-6.141
0.0778
F2 vs F0
1.47
0.549-3.939
0.4431
F3 vs F0
6.195
2.786-13.775
< 0.0001
F4 vs F0
4.122
1.85-9.14
0.0005
Hepatology referral
F1 vs F2
0.181
0.04-0.813
0.0258
F3 vs F2
4.438
2.253-8.739
< 0.0001
F4 vs F2
4.55
2.385-8.681
< 0.0001
Health education referral
F1 vs F0
1.415
0.882-2.272
0.1501
F2 vs F0
1.463
0.957-2.236
0.0786
F3 vs F0
2.054
1.305-3.233
0.0019
F4 vs F0
3.589
2.391-5.387
< 0.0001
Citation: Stein L, Mittal R, Song H, Chung J, Sahota A. To scan or not to scan: Use of transient elastography in an integrated health system. World J Hepatol 2023; 15(3): 419-430