Validity of FibroScan values for predicting hepatic fibrosis stage in patients with chronic HCV infection

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to validate the FibroScan system compared with liver histology and serum markers for the diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis. We also tried to determine the cut‐off levels and assess the feasibility of using FibroScan values to predict the fibrosis stage. METHODS: In 44 patients with HCV infection, liver stiffness was evaluated by FibroScan, serum fibrosis markers and a liver biopsy. Associations between these indices were also analyzed. RESULTS: FibroScan values showed a good correlation with serum levels of type IV collagen, hyaluronic acid and procollagen‐III‐peptide, and with the platelet count. Compared with liver histology, the FibroScan values increased proportionally with the progression of the histological fibrosis stage. Advanced fibrosis (F3 or F4) could be efficiently predicted by a FibroScan cut‐off value of 15 kPa. The FibroScan sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy were 100%, 73.9%, 77.8%, 100%, and 86.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION: FibroScan values gave a good correlation with various markers of fibrosis and increased proportionally with the progression of the hepatic fibrosis stage. A FibroScan value of 15 kPa was found to be a significant separation limit for differentiating advanced fibrosis stages (F3 and F4) from the milder stages (F0–F2). FibroScan values are clinically useful for predicting the fibrosis stages and helpful in managing interferon therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Early Detection of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis in Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease by Using MR Elastography

“…Recently, plasma pentraxin 3 (PTX3) and cytokeratin 18 (CK18) fragments have shown improved accuracy for detecting NASH (AUROC = 0.75-0.83), yet further validation is still required (24)(25)(26)(27). US-based transient elastography has a high accuracy (AUROC = 0.79-0.98) for detecting fi brosis by measuring the Young modulus (stiffness) of liver tissue (28)(29)(30). However, there has been diffi culty in measuring liver stiffness N onalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an increasingly prevalent clinical syndrome associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (1)(2)(3)(4).…”

A Secreted Form of the Asialoglycoprotein Receptor, sH2a, as a Novel Potential Noninvasive Marker for Liver Fibrosis

“…Using this method the AUROC values obtained for significant fibrosis ranged from 0.76 to 0.83, quite suitable but lower than with the combination of sH2a with ALT [24], [25]. Like in other methods, the values that transient elastography provides for moderate fibrosis are not satisfactory; for example in one recent study it could not statistically differentiate stage 2 from 0–1 [26]. In addition, transient elastography values are inaccurate in obese patients or in those with fatty liver and the method cannot be used in patients with ascites.…”

Serum hyaluronic acid in chronic viral hepatitis B and C: a biomarker for assessing liver fibrosis in chronic hemodialysis patients

“…Many studies have emphasized the efficiency of FibroScan in predicting F: Takemoto et al [25] report that FibroScan predicts the F stage in patients with chronic VHC with a 100 % Se, 73.9 % Sp, and 100 % accuracy; Ogawa et al [26] demonstrate a good correlation between the F stage assessed by histopathological examination of a liver biopsy sample and elasticity measurements performed using FibroScan; Shaheen et al [27] also show that FibroScan has excellent diagnostic accuracy for the identification of hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis, but lesser utility for earlier stages of F.…”