Darius Mircea Heredea

Dr. Darius Mircea Heredea


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

2Years (2025-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

View All Publications
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
RBRenata Bende
Renata Bende
DHDarius Mircea Heredea
Darius Mircea Heredea
IRIulia Maria RATIU
Iulia Maria RATIU
Ioan SporeaIoan Sporea
Ioan Sporea
MDMirela Danila
Mirela Danila
FBFelix Bende
Felix Bende
Background/Objectives: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a major cause of chronic liver disease and is closely linked to obesity and metabolic syndrome, necessitating efficient, non-invasive diagnostic tools. Methods: This monocentric cross-sectional study included 178 patients (69.1% with MASLD, 30.9% normal subjects; 55% males; mean age 52.79 ± 12.56 years) who underwent anthropometric and biochemical assessments to determine the visceral adiposity index (VAI), triglyceride–glucose index (TyG), and lipid accumulation product (LAP), along with abdominal ultrasound and vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) with controlled attenuation parameter (CAP). Results: Patients were categorized based on steatosis severity: S0–S1 (n = 64) and S2–S3 (n = 114). The TyG, VAI, and LAP values were significantly higher in S2–S3 cases (p < 0.0001) and showed moderate-to-strong correlations with both steatosis and fibrosis. Predictive models yielded AUROCs of 0.80 (TyG), 0.83 (VAI), and 0.79 (LAP) for diagnosing S2–S3 steatosis. The NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS) and FIB-4 classified fibrosis severity, but 36.8% of cases remained unclassified. Applying the TyG and VAI thresholds reduced this rate to 26.3%. Conclusions: These findings support the TyG, VAI, and LAP as valuable non-invasive biomarkers for MASLD assessment, enhancing the classification accuracy when conventional fibrosis scores are inconclusive.