Noninvasive Fibrosis Testing in Chronic Liver Disease Including Caveats.

Overview

Assessment of liver fibrosis is important as the range of liver disease management has expanded, rendering biopsy both imperfect and impractical in many situations. Noninvasive tests of fibrosis leverage laboratory, imaging and elastography techniques to estimate disease extent, often with the goal of identifying advanced fibrosis. This review attempts to summarize their utility across a broad range of possible clinical scenarios while considering the central tenets of health care quality: access, quality, and cost. For each test, it also discusses the caveats whereby each test may have reduced effectiveness and how to consider each in a typical clinical setting.