Liver stiffness is a reliable non-invasive predictor of Hepatic Venous Pressure Gradient (HVPG) above 10 mm Hg. However, it failed to predict higher thresholds of HVPG. Our aim was to investigate whether liver stiffness and selected previously published non-invasive blood biomarkers could predict higher HVPG thresholds in liver transplant candidates without ongoing alcohol use. One hundred and nine liver transplant candidates with liver cirrhosis of various aetiologies underwent direct HVPG measurement, liver stiffness measurement by 2D shear-wave elastography (Aixplorer Multiwave, Supersonic Imagine, France) and assessment of blood HVPG biomarkers (osteopontin, VCAM-1, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1ra/IL-1F3 and ELF score). The correlation between liver stiffness and HVPG was linear up to 30 mm Hg of HVPG (r = 0.765, p < 0.0001). The regression lines had similar slopes for HVPG values below and above 16 mm Hg (p > 0.05) and the correlation in patients with HVPG <16 mm Hg (r = 0.456, p = 0.01) was similar to patients with HVPG ≥ 16 mm Hg (r = 0.499, p < 0.0001). The correlation was similar in the subgroup patients with alcoholic (r = 0.718, p < 0.0001), NASH (r = 0.740, p = 0.008), cryptogenic (r = 0.648, p = 0,0377), cholestatic and autoimmune (r = 0.706, p < 0.0001) and viral cirrhosis (r = 0.756, p < 0.0001). Liver stiffness distinguished patients with HVPG above 16, and 20 mm Hg with AUROCs 0.90243, and 0.86824, sensitivity 0.7656, and 0.7027, and specificity 0.9333, and 0.8750. All studied blood biomarkers correlated better with liver stiffness than with HVPG and their AUROCs did not exceed 0.8 at both HVPG thresholds. Therefore, a composite predictor superior to liver stiffness could not be established. We conclude that liver stiffness is a clinically reliable predictor of higher HVPG thresholds in non-drinking subjects with advanced liver cirrhosis.

• MeSH
• Biomarkers blood   MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Elasticity Imaging Techniques methods   MeSH
• Fibrosis pathology   MeSH
• Liver Cirrhosis pathology   MeSH
• Liver pathology   MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Linear Models MeSH
• Hypertension, Portal pathology   MeSH
• Portal Pressure physiology   MeSH
• Prospective Studies MeSH
• Elasticity physiology   MeSH
• Aged, 80 and over MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Sensitivity and Specificity MeSH
• Hepatic Veins pathology   MeSH
• Venous Pressure physiology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Aged, 80 and over MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Biomarkers MeSH