LAUSR

Background. The article deals with the topical issue — studying age features of structural changes in the liver in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Our purpose was to study the age features of structural changes in the liver with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Materials and methods. Forty patients, including 27 individuals with ulcerative colitis and 13 — with Crohn’s di­sease, were examined by non-invasive methods — steatometry and shear wave elastography. All patients were divided into groups depending on the age (according to the World Health Organization classification: from 25 to 44 years — young age, 44–60 years — middle age). The examination included 29 patients of young and 11 patients of middle age. Results. It was found that liver changes had age differences. Therefore, according to the results of liver steatometry, changes characteristic of hepatic steatosis on the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease activity score were observed in 32.5 % of patients with IBD, and in patients of middle age, liver steatosis was 1.8 times more frequent as compared to the persons of young age. According to shear wave elastography, changes in the stiffness of liver parenchyma were revealed in 14 (35.0 %) patients with IBD in the form of fibrosis stages I and III — in 25.0 and 10.0 % of cases, respectively. In patients of middle age, stages I and III of liver fibrosis were 2.6 times more frequent. Conclusions. Given the obtained data, for patients with IBD in the older age group, it is expedient to include into the diagnosis standard the ultrasound examination of the liver with shear wave elastography and steatometry, which will allow timely detection of signs of fatty degeneration of the liver and determine the rational management of the patient that help reduce the risk of developing complications of diseases.