Purpose: To comparatively assess the role of abdominal ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in predicting long-term medical outcome in native liver survivor patients with biliary atresia (BA) after Kasai portoenterostomy (KP).
Methods: Twenty-four retrospectively enrolled patients were divided in two groups according to clinical and laboratory data at initial evaluation after KP (median follow-up = 9.7 years; range = 5-25 years) as with ideal (Group 1; n = 15) or non-ideal (Group 2; n = 9) medical outcome. All patients were re-evaluated for a period of additional 4 years using clinical and laboratory indices. US and MRI studies were qualitatively analyzed assessing imaging signs suggestive of chronic liver disease (CLD).
Results: At re-evaluation, 6 patients (40%) of Group 1 changed their medical outcome in non-ideal (Group 1A); the other 9 patients (60%) remained stable (Group 1B); the mean time to change the medical outcome in non-ideal status at re-evaluation was 43.5 ± 2.3 months. The area under the ROC curve was 0.84 and 0.87 for US and MRI scores to predict long-term medical outcome with the best cut-off value score > 4 for both modalities (p = 0.89). In Group 2, 6 (67%) patients showed a clinical progression (Group 2A) with a mean time of 39.8 ± 3.8 months; in the other 3 (33%) patients, no clinical progression was observed (Group 2B).
Conclusion: In BA patients with ideal medical outcome after KP, US and MRI may both predict long-term outcome. US, non-invasive and widely available technique, should be preferred.
Keywords: Biliary atresia; Kasai portoenterostomy; Long-term medical outcome prediction; Magnetic resonance imaging; Ultrasound.