Siemens Healthcare is showcasing its broad portfolio of diagnostic solutions, designed to help physicians manage patients with liver disease, at the 47th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), Barcelona, Spain, April 18 – 22, 2012 (Booth #24). The exhibit — themed “Liver Health. Powered by Innovation.” — features the company’s most recent minimally invasive methods for assessing liver fibrosis, including the first CE-marked liver fibrosis marker panel and a new ultra-premium ultrasound platform that helps measure liver disease progression.
“Patient management in chronic liver disease is an evolving area of diagnostic medicine,” said Luis Lasalvia, M.D., Director, Strategic Innovations, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics. “Siemens’ latest methods for liver fibrosis assessment are an exciting part of this evolution, and an important complement to our portfolio of liver health solutions, which also include routine chemistry tests, hepatitis serology assays, viral load testing and ultrasound imaging.”
The Siemens liver health diagnostic solutions displayed at EASL 2012 include¹ the ADVIA Centaur® Enhanced Liver Fibrosis (ELF™) Test², the first routine standardized direct biomarker panel for the assessment of liver fibrosis. With results provided in about an hour, the ELF test combines in an algorithm three serum biomarkers—hyaluronic acid (HA), Procollagen III amino terminal peptide (PIIINP) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1)—which provide a score, shown to correlate to the level of liver fibrosis as assessed by liver biopsy. In an international multi-centre study with a mix of patient groups, the ELF test was clinically validated and found to be accurate to differentiate mild, moderate and severe fibrosis.³
Information is also available regarding the VERSANT® HCV RNA 1.0 Assay (KPCR), a highly sensitive viral load assay for the VERSANT kPCR Molecular System.4 It aids in the management of individuals infected with hepatitis C (HCV)—one of the main causes of chronic liver disease worldwide5— who are undergoing antiviral therapy. This assay provides outstanding precision across the dynamic range and 100% specificity with a 95% lower confidence limit of 99.7%, and features technology that is compatible with all HCV genotypes.
Visitors to the booth may also explore the ACUSON S3000™ Ultrasound System,6 the new high-end ultrasound system from Siemens. Its unique One-Click eSie FusionTM imaging7 allows the auto registration of computed tomography (CT) images in seconds, making ultrasound image fusion suitable for the clinical routine. In addition, the system offers the most comprehensive tissue strain analysis toolbox in the industry today. Virtual Touch™ tissue imaging and quantification8 on both the ACUSON S3000 and ACUSON S2000 ultrasound systems allows physicians to evaluate liver tissue with both qualitative assessment and quantitative values. Multiple published papers support liver fibrosis assessment and staging with ultrasound.
These liver health technologies demonstrate Siemens’ innovative leadership, one of the goals of the recently launched Siemens Agenda 2013 program.