Reply to: “Are FIB-4 and liver stiffness measurement interchangeable for HCC risk stratification in MASLD?”
Georg Semmler, Jan Embacher, Mattias Mandorfer · 2026
Read Reply to: “Are FIB-4 and liver stiffness measurement interchangeable for HCC risk stratification in MASLD?” by Georg Semmler, Jan Embacher, Mattias Mandorfer (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13522887.txt.
Description
Georg Semmler, Jan Embacher, and Mattias Mandorfer reply to a letter about two noninvasive liver tests in a 2026 response concerning fatty liver disease and liver cancer surveillance. Critics questioned whether a blood-based score and a stiffness measurement can be used interchangeably, citing a small subgroup and few cancer events. The authors agree those limits apply and clarify the aim of their original study.
Their question was not whether the blood score diagnoses advanced scarring as accurately as stiffness measurement, a point they concede it does not. Their question was whether both tests predict future liver cancer risk, where the two performed comparably. The blood score is framed as a triage tool in referral pathways, not a stand-alone diagnostic test. The reply also notes that age affects the score differently for diagnosis than for prognosis.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Georg Semmler, Jan Embacher, Mattias Mandorfer |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 5833 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |