Title

Correlation between liver stiffness measurement and hepatocellular carcinoma risk: A case control study

Authors

Abhinav Garg¹, Yogesh Kumar Gupta^2,*, Sanjeev Puri³, Staphy Garg⁴, Varun Mehta⁵ & Dinesh Gupta⁶

Affiliation

¹Consultant, Vardhman Mahavir Hospital, Patiala, Punjab, India; ²Department of Gastroenterology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India; ³Department of Otolaryngology, Dayanand Medical College and hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India; ⁴Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Government Medical College, Patiala, India; ⁵Department of Gastroenterology, Dayanand Medical college and Hospital Ludhiana, Punjab, India; ⁶Consultant, Fortis Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Abhinav Garg - E-mail: abhinavgarg24@yahoo.com
Yogesh Kumar Gupta - E-mail: 22yogeshgupta@gmail.com
Sanjeev Puri - E-mail: puri1376@gmail.com
Staphy Garg - E-mail: staphygarg17@gmail.com
Varun Mehta - E-mail: varun_mehta05@rediffmail.com
Dinesh Gupta - E-mail: dr_dinesh_gupta@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received January 1, 2026; Revised January 31, 2026; Accepted January 31, 2026, Published January 31, 2026

Abstract

Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) using transient elastography (TE) poorly predicts hepatocellular carcinoma risk in cirrhotic patients, despite its established role in fibrosis assessment. This case-control study compared 30 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with cirrhosis to 30 cirrhosis-only patients using FibroScan® TE for LSM. HCC patients were older, mostly male, with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) as the primary cirrhosis cause, followed by alcohol; median LSM was higher in HCC (58.0 kPa) versus non-HCC (24.5 kPa). Stratum-specific likelihood ratios rose with LSM and multivariate analysis confirmed age, HCV, alcohol and LSM as independent HCC predictors; LSM ≥39.45 kPa showed 83% sensitivity and 80% specificity for HCC detection in cirrhosis. Elevated LSM strongly associates with HCC risk, supporting TE as a non-invasive tool, especially with HCV/alcohol factors.

Keywords

Hepatocellular carcinoma, liver stiffness measurement, transient elastography, cirrhosis, FibroScan, non-invasive diagnostics.

Citation

Garg et al. Bioinformation 22(1): 169-174 (2026)

Edited by

Vini Mehta

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.