Fibroscan as a non-invasive predictor of hepatic steatosis in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: There is limited data on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among Indian women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and there are no data on the utility of fibroscan in its assessment. The objective of this study was thus to investigate the frequency of hepatic steatosis in young women with PCOS and evaluate the utility of transient elastography (TE) in its assessment. METHODS: Seventy women diagnosed with PCOS and 60 apparently healthy women (controls) were enrolled in this pilot study. These women were evaluated for clinical, biochemical and hormonal parameters, transabdominal ultrasonography, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and fibroscan assessing liver stiffness measure (LSM) and controlled attenuation parameter (CAP). Other indices such as liver fat score (LFS), lipid accumulation product (LAP), fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) and aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index, hepatic steatosis index (HIS) scores were also calculated. The main outcome measures were the presence of NAFLD in women with PCOS and its correlation with CAP and LSM on TE. RESULTS: Women with PCOS had higher frequency (38.57 vs. 6.67%) of hepatic steatosis than control women as determined by abdominal sonography. The aminotransferases were higher in PCOS group (14.28 vs. 1.7%, P=0.03) even after adjusting for body mass index implying higher non-alcoholic steatohepatitis among young PCOS patients. PCOS women had significantly higher CAP on TE compared to controls (210 vs. 196). CAP had a significant correlation with LFS, LAP and HIS. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: NAFLD is common in young women with PCOS, and fibroscan using TE may be considered as a promising non-invasive diagnostic modality in its early detection.