Evaluation of liver elasticity with shear-wave elastography in juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients receiving methotrexate

Background Methotrexate (MTX) is the first-choice disease-modifying drug in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) treatment. Methotrexate is metabolized in the liver and can cause liver toxicity and fibrosis with long-term use. Ultrasound shear wave elastography (SWE) is a non-invasive method and can detect liver fibrosis by evaluating the liver elasticity. The aim of this study was to assess liver stiffness and detect if there is an increase in liver stiffness or fibrosis findings with the non-invasive SWE method in JIA patients under MTX treatment. Method The study included 49 JIA patients under MTX treatment and 48 healthy controls, matched for age and sex with a body mass index below the 95th percentile. The demographic data and clinical characteristics of patients were obtained from medical records. Liver function tests were evaluated, and liver tissue stiffness measurements were performed with SWE. Results Of the 49 patients, 67.35% were girls and the mean age was 10.69 (+/- 4.33) years. The duration of MTX treatment was 23.00 (1-80) months, and the cumulative dose of MTX was 1,280.867 mg (+/- 934.2) in the patient group. There was no statistically significant difference in liver stiffness between patients receiving MTX and healthy controls (P = 0.313). There was no relationship between MTX duration, cumulative dose, route of administration, and liver stiffness. Only gamma glutamyl transferase values were weakly correlated with liver stiffness (P = 0.029). Conclusions We did not detect an increase in liver tissue stiffness in JIA patients using methotrexate in comparison with controls.