S4-E40.2 - Deeper Dive into the Landscape of NITs

Along with NASH-TAG, Paris NASH is one of two famously small, science-based and publicly available events every year for the liver community. Given the depth of topics and ideas explored in Paris, the event in its entirety would be nearly impossible to cover in a single conclusive episode. That said, the Surfers (Jörn Schattenberg, Louise Campbell and Roger Green) are joined by two presenting KOLs, Scott Friedman and Laurent Castera, for a neatly packaged conversation to capture some of the key dynamics of the meeting. Particularly, the group hone in on developments in the landscape around NITs.<br/><br/>This session starts with questions to Laurent from Jörn and Louise about his comments on NITs from the preceding conversation. Jörn concurs with Laurent’s statements on the value of FIB-4, particularly if the provider conducts sequential tests. Louise asks whether we are looking solely at liver disease, given the high levels of non-liver mortality among patients with F1-F3 fibrosis. Laurent notes that the primary purpose so far has been to identify F3 and F4 NASH, but more recently methods such as FAST, MAST, MEFIB and MASEF, which was discussed on the podcast in S4E39, seek to define disease stages with greater specificity. He then goes on to discuss the importance of the context of screening on test performance. Laurent notes that in higher prevalence populations there will be a larger percentage of false positives. Thus, he notes, FIB-4 works well in initial screening based on strong NPV performance, but has less value in a disease-enriched population. <br/><br/>This episode and its conversations cover a range of fascinating insights stemming from yet another impactful Paris NASH meeting. If you have questions or comments around Paris NASH, NITs or any other themes addressed, we kindly ask that you submit reviews wherever you download the discourse. Alternatively, you can write to us directly at questions@SurfingNASH.com.<br/><br/>Stay Safe and Surf On!<br/><br/><br/>