Predicting hepatic complications of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation using liver stiffness measurement

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the only curative option for a variety of diseases. Despite advances, it is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality, often involving liver complications. Liver disease can be characterized using ultrasound-based liver stiffness measurement. To assess its prognostic value, consecutive patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation were prospectively evaluated in a single-center study. Endpoints included liver event-free survival and all-cause mortality at 1 year. Competing risk and Cox-regression were used for analysis. We evaluated 106 patients (42 female, age 57) and observed 33 life-threatening events (14 died) including 16 liver complications at 100 days. At 1 year, 36 patients had died, 20 with disease relapse. The hazard ratios for liver-related complications at 100 days were 3.2 (95% CI: 1.8–14.6, p = 0.0022) and 4.4 (95% CI: 1.6–11.9, p = 0.0042) for elevated transient elastography ( n = 11) and shear-wave velocity ( n = 31), respectively. Results were analogous for all-cause mortality at 1 year. Prior stem cell therapy and elevated gamma glutamyltransferase were also associated with outcome. This demonstrates that elastography is a promising and viable tool for risk prediction and should be included in upcoming multi-center trials to establish new means of guiding treatment and prophylaxis.