Fibroscan in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients on Long-Term Methotrexate Therapy | ||||
| The Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine | ||||
| Article 117, Volume 99, Issue 1, April 2025, Page 2185-2193 PDF (598.53 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/ejhm.2025.431608 | ||||
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| Abstract | ||||
| Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune inflammatory illness, which mainly influences joints; however, it may also affect other organs, involving the heart, lungs, and kidney. Methotrexate is commonly utilized for the management of variety of chronic inflammatory rheumatic illnesses, like rheumatoid arthritis. The liver fibrosis is mostly asymptomatic, however it could be complicated by hepatocellular carcinoma or portal hypertension and the serum enzymes are sometimes poorly predictive to present the importance of the fibroscan. Objectives: To assess liver fibrosis by fibroscan in Egyptian patients with RA on long-term methotrexate therapy and its correlation with cumulative dose of methotrexate. Patients and Methods: The current cross-sectional research has been performed on 105 caseswith rheumatoid arthritiswith uninterrupted weekly oral or injectable methotrexate for ≥ 3 years and their FIB-4 index was more than 1.45. Results: There was a statistically significant elevation of the median methotrexate cumulative dose, the period of methotrexate utilize and increase of FIB-4 index in cases with significant fibrosis. A statistically significant positive association has been observed between methotrexate dose with liver fibroscan and FIB-4 index. The liver stiffness score and the FIB-4 index demonstrated a significant elevation with an elevation in the period of methotrexate dose. Conclusion: Long-term usage of methotrexate was related to a higher possibility of fibrosis of the liver as revealed through FIB-4 index and fibroscan. In addition, such association is believed to have a positive correlation with both methotrexate dose and duration. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Rheumatoid arthritis; Fibroscan; Methotrexate; Fibrosis-4 index; Hepatotoxicity | ||||
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