Background and aims: We sought to clarify the relationship between virtual touch quantification (VTQ) in acoustic radiation force impulse and skeletal muscle mass as assessed by bio-electronic impedance analysis in patients with chronic liver diseases (CLDs, n = 468, 222 males and 246 females, median age = 62 years).
Patients and methods: Decreased skeletal muscle index (D-SMI) was defined as skeletal muscle index (SMI) <7.0 kg/m² for males and as SMI <5.7 kg/m² for females, according to the recommendations in current Japanese guidelines. We examined the correlation between SMI and VTQ levels and investigated factors linked to D-SMI in the univariate and multivariate analyses. The area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) for the presence of D-SMI was also calculated.
Results: In patients with D-SMI, the median VTQ level was 1.64 meters/second (m/s) (range, 0.93-4.32 m/s), while in patients without D-SMI, the median VTQ level was 1.11 m/s (range, 0.67-4.09 m/s) (p < 0.0001). In the multivariate analysis, higher VTQ was found to be an independent predictor linked to the presence of D-SMI (p < 0.0001). In receiver operating characteristic analysis, body mass index had the highest AUROC (0.805), followed by age (0.721) and VTQ (0.706).
Conclusion: VTQ levels can be useful for predicting D-SMI in patients with CLDs.
Keywords: bio-electronic impedance analysis; liver fibrosis marker; predictive ability; skeletal muscle mass; virtual touch quantification.