Ultrasound imaging may be a valuable tool to assess and predict the progression of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), according to a recent study published in the journal BMC Gastroenterology.
The study analyzed the ultrasound images of patients with PBC in different histological stages of the disease, which is determined by the microscopic structure of the liver tissue. Seventy-five participants were subjected to liver biopsy as the gold standard for determining a disease’s histological stage.
According to the results, the ultrasound showed a thickened portal vein wall, while the tissue surrounding the portal vein and its branches was dark because it did not bounce back the ultrasound waves as well as the other structures around it. The portal vein is a blood vessel that carries blood away from several organs in the abdomen including the liver.
Read more about PBC testing and diagnosis
The images also showed a significant increase in the diameter of the left portion of the liver in histological stage two (by 64.0%) and stage three (by 69.2%) of PBC. Statistical analysis showed all of these ultrasound findings to be positively linked with the PBC histological stages. Moreover, the liver surface, texture, and edge between different stages were significantly different.
“Our findings revealed that this technique is a highly precise method for assessing the extent of disease progression in patients with PBC. Furthermore, our study suggests that ultrasound imaging may provide crucial clinical reference values for the prediction of the histological stage of the disease,” the researchers wrote.
