Dr. Mazen Noureddin joins Roger Green to co-host this first in what will be a series of CME podcasts focused on elements of diagnosis, treatment, and management of Fatty Liver disease.
New Data: NITs Can Help Diagnose & Manage NASH Patients
In this episode, Professors Quentin Anstee and Jörn Schattenberg and Dr. Alina Allen join the co-hosts to discuss advances in the development, use, and analysis of NITs.
The Category 1 CME exercise utilizes the interactive flow of a podcast to help listeners integrate information on recent advances in NITs. Dr. Mazen Noureddin and SurfingNASH.com Executive Producer Roger Green welcome Professors Quentin Anstee and Jörn Schattenberg and Dr. Alina Allen to the discussion.
The panelists discuss recent research on the use of NITs in the diagnosis and management of patients you suspect of having Fatty Liver disease.
Professor Anstee discusses a presentation he gave at June’s International Liver Congress meeting demonstrating that the FIB-4 test provides not only diagnostic results for the patients you test but prognostic results as well.
Professor Schattenberg discusses research that evaluates composite scores that utilize Transient Elastography results (FAST scores, AGILE 3, and AGILE 4).
Dr. Allen discusses some of her research into the use of Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE), focusing on its prognostic abilities. Finally, Dr. Noureddin discusses the development of the MAST score, an MRE-based tool with strong positive and negative predictive abilities.
Throughout the conversation, the panelists discuss how they use these tests in daily clinical practice. Professor Anstee raises the question of the value of the “indeterminate” FIB-4 score in evaluating liver patients (SPOILER ALERT: the panelists agree they frequently look only at whether the score is “High” or not.)
At the end of Professor Schattenberg’s discussion, the group discusses whether they use the AGILE scores (SPOILER ALERT: rarely if ever).
Dr. Allen discusses the availability and relatively low costs of MRE in non-academic settings, at least in the US. Finally, Dr. Noureddin discusses the practical value of different diagnostic tests in clinical trial and patient treatment settings.
This program is designed not only to provide recent research results but to provide practical guidance to clinicians about when and how to deploy these various tests.