Nana Peng, Mary Yue Wang, Sherlot Juan Song, Jimmy Che-To Lai, Vicki Wing-Ki Hui, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong, Grace Lai-Hung Wong, Mamatha Bhat, Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip
Received February 27, 2026 Accepted July 22, 2026 Published online July 23, 2026
Artificial intelligence (AI), particularly foundation and generative models, is reshaping the practice of hepatology through enhanced knowledge synthesis, quantitative and reproducible analysis of multimodal data, and personalized clinical decision support. This narrative review examines the transition from task-specific discrimination AI to large language models (LLMs), multimodal foundation models, and agentic AI. We synthesize evidence from original and validation studies, clinical evaluations, and benchmark studies, as well as expert reviews and regulatory frameworks across metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, chronic hepatitis B, cirrhosis and portal hypertension, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver transplantation. LLMs can convert free-text notes into structured data, summarize longitudinal electronic health records, support patient education, and retrieve guideline-based information. Retrieval-augmented generation and agentic AI may improve traceability and workflow support, but current evidence is largely retrospective or proof-of-concept. In digital pathology and imaging, discriminative AI has enabled more quantitative and reproducible histologic scoring and biomarker analysis. Pathology and multimodal foundation models offer transferable representations, report generation, and cross-modal reasoning, but hepatology-specific validation remains limited. Key risks include hallucination, automation bias, domain shift across centers and devices, and inequities due to under-representation of patient subgroups. We outline the future directions for safe AI model deployment based on multimodal foundation models, prospective and federated evaluation, lifecycle governance, and continuous monitoring for performance, calibration, and equity. Most generative AI applications in hepatology remain at the proof-of-concept stage, and rigorous prospective validation with human-in-the-loop oversight is required before clinical integration.
Xinrui Jin, Sherlot Juan Song, Jimmy Che-To Lai, Grace Lai-Hung Wong, Alice Pik-Shan Kong, Nana Peng, Xiang Xiao, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong, Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip
Clin Mol Hepatol 2026;32(1):353-367. Published online December 1, 2025
Background/Aims Previous studies suggest that hypothyroidism is associated with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and its histological severity, but clinical outcome data are largely lacking. We aimed to study the impact of hypothyroidism on liver-related events (LREs).
Methods Patients with MASLD were identified from a territory-wide registry in Hong Kong during 2000–2024. Thyroid status was determined using diagnosis codes and thyroid function tests. The primary outcome, LRE, was defined as a composite of hepatic decompensation, hepatocellular carcinoma, liver transplantation, and liver-related death.
Results A total of 20,478 patients with MASLD were included in the final analysis (mean age 56.4±13.2 years; 43.9% male). At baseline, 18,178 (88.8%) patients were euthyroid, 598 (2.9%) were hyperthyroid, and 1,702 (8.3%) were hypothyroid. Compared with euthyroid patients, both hyperthyroidism and overt hypothyroidism were associated with cirrhosis. At a median follow-up of 4.8 years, 179 patients developed LREs, and 26 died from liver disease. Compared with patients with normal serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels of 0.4–4 mIU/L, those with subclinical (4–10 mIU/L; adjusted time-dependent cause-specific hazard ratio [aCSHR], 2.49; 95% CI, 1.51–4.13) and overt hypothyroidism (>10 mIU/L; aCSHR, 4.91; 95% CI, 1.56–15.47) had an increased risk of LREs. Time-dependent, but not baseline, TSH and thyroid status were associated with LRE risk.
Conclusions Subclinical and overt hypothyroidism are associated with an increased risk of LREs in a dose-dependent manner. The association with time-dependent but not baseline thyroid status underscores the importance of thyroid monitoring and suggests that correction of hypothyroidism may mitigate LRE risk.
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Hypertension and long-term adverse clinical outcomes in MASLD: Sensitivity analyses for unmeasured or uncontrolled confounding Guiying Gao, Xiuhong Wang, Ruizhe Huang, Jing Cao Journal of Hepatology.2026; 84(6): e209. CrossRef
Not just fat: muscle also matters in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) Xinyan Zong, Grace Lai-Hung Wong Hepatology International.2026; 20(3): 550. CrossRef
Dynamic Thyroid Function Assessment May Improve Risk Prediction in Metabolic Dysfunction—Associated Steatotic Liver Disease Patients Gabriela Brenta Clinical Thyroidology®.2026; 38(7): 240. CrossRef
Interest of biochemical monitoring of liver function for patients under anti-tuberculosis treatment Alsayed Ahmad Dana, Chikhi Aicha, Sai Touba, Benzitouni Aicha, Aoues Khadidja, Khelfi Abderrezak Drug and Chemical Toxicology.2026; : 1. CrossRef
Immune escape mechanisms revealed by multifunctional nanoprobes targeting PD‐L1 in hepatic cancer progression Yiteng Meng, Liwen Jing, Yeda Chen, Shenggang Zhan, Feng Xiong, Wenbiao Chen VIEW.2026;[Epub] CrossRef
Enzyme‐responsive 612‐AYR nanoparticles for targeted inhibition of B4GALT3‐mediated ITGB1 glycosylation in hepatocellular carcinoma Xiaohui Yu, Xiaoyan Chen, Hui Guo, Xia Jin, Pingping Tan, Longwu Zeng, Yan He, Junjun Li British Journal of Pharmacology.2026; 183(16): 4989. CrossRef
Correspondence to editorial on “Prevalence of clinically significant liver fibrosis in the general population: A systematic review and meta-analysis” Hee Yeon Kim, Miyoung Choi, Dae Won Jun Clinical and Molecular Hepatology.2025; 31(1): e48. CrossRef