Association between severe hepatic steatosis examined by Fibroscan and the risk of high-risk colorectal neoplasia

PLoS One. 2022 Dec 22;17(12):e0279242. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279242. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

The prevalence of colorectal neoplasm in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has increased twice as high as that in the general population. FibroScan is a new modality for evaluating hepatic steatosis. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the risk of high-risk colorectal neoplasia and hepatic steatosis examined using FibroScan. This was a cross sectional study of prospectively enrolled subjects who were scheduled to undergo index colonoscopy as a health screening between March 2018 and February 2019. The severity of steatosis was graded as normal, mild, moderate, or severe using FibroScan. A total of 140 consecutive subjects were enrolled and sequentially examined using FibroScan and colonoscopy. Subjects with hepatic steatosis had more high-risk colorectal neoplasia than those without hepatic steatosis. In addition, tumor size was larger in subjects with hepatic steatosis. In multivariable analysis, severe hepatic steatosis was an independent risk factor for high-risk colorectal neoplasia (adjusted odds ratio: 3.309, confidence interval: 1.043-10.498, p = 0.042). Alcohol consumption was also identified as a risk factor for high-risk colorectal neoplasia. In conclusion, severe hepatic steatosis on FibroScan is associated with the development of high-risk colorectal neoplasia. Thus, physicians should be aware of the association between colorectal neoplasia and hepatic steatosis assessed by FibroScan and its clinical implications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Colorectal Neoplasms* / diagnostic imaging
  • Colorectal Neoplasms* / epidemiology
  • Colorectal Neoplasms* / pathology
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Elasticity Imaging Techniques*
  • Humans
  • Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* / complications
  • Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* / diagnostic imaging
  • Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* / epidemiology
  • Risk Factors

Grants and funding

HWK was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIT) (No. 2021R1F1A1062000). SJK was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT; No. 2019R1C1C1002243) and the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2016R1D1A1B03931961 and NRF-2020R1A1F10666419) and Yuhan Corporation (800-20180463). KWK was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (NRF-2022R1F1A1076019). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.