Enzymatic liver function measured by LiMAx correlates well with histology in patients with chronic liver disease

Aim:

To compare the diagnostic accuracy of enzymatic liver function measured by liver maximum capacity (LiMAx) test with histological specimen in patients with chronic liver disease.

Patients and Methods:

We prospectively correlated the enzymatic liver function determined by LiMAx test with histological specimen in 89 patients with chronic liver disease who underwent liver biopsy (either percutaneous or via mini-laparoscopy) at the University Hospital Essen between October 2016 and September 2017. Histology was classified according to the Desmet scoring system. Patients with acute liver failure were excluded from the analysis.

Results:

The majority of the study population was male (n = 53; 59.6%), the mean age was 47 ± 17 [18 – 78] years. Histological specimen of the patients were distributed as followed: F0: 14 (15.7%), F1: 16 (18.0%), F2: 15 (16.9%), F3: 24 (27.0%), and F4: 20 (22.5%) patients, respectively. Histology determined by Desmet scoring system correlated well with enzymatic liver function (LiMAx F0: 509 ± 143 [325 – 77] µg/h/kg, median LiMAx F1: 402 ± 141 [219 – 716] µg/h/kg, median LiMAx F2: 378 ± 136 [246 – 788] µg/h/kg, median LiMAx F3: 273 ± 60 [115 – 393] µg/h/kg, median LiMAx F4: 209 ± 105 [67 – 431] µg/h/kg, p < 0.0001).

Conclusions:

Enzymatic liver function measured by LiMAx test showed excellent correlation with histology in patients with chronic liver disease irrespective of its underlying etiology, possibly making it useful as non-invasive tool for determination of disease severity.