Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 12, 2026
The Infiltration-centrifugation Technique for Extraction of Apoplastic Fluid from Plant Leaves Using Phaseolus vulgaris as an Example
Published on: December 19, 2014
[Utility of various non-invasive methods for fibrosis prediction among Basque Country patients with phenotypic
A Castiella1, E Zapata, P Otazua
1Servicios de Gastroenterología, Radiología y Anatomía Patológica, Hospitales de Mendaro, Mondragón y Donostia, Osatek Donostia, Gipuzkoa. agustincastiella@yahoo.es
Objective:
To determine whether the product of multiplying age by liver iron concentration (LIC) (fibrosis index; cut-off, 480,000), platelets, transaminases, and ferritin values are related to the risk of high grade fibrosis.
Methods:
A retrospective study of 32 patients with hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) with phenotypic expression. All patients had a liver biopsy with LIC.
Results:
In 7 patients a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan (1.5 T) was obtained with LIC following Alustiza's protocol. Liver biopsy: fibrosis grade (F) 0-2 in 23 patients; F 3-4 in 9. Fibrosis index (FI) showed a specificity of 68%, sensitivity of 85.7%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 42.8%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 94.4% for high-grade fibrosis. Platelet count ( < 200,000) revealed a NPV of 94.7% for F3-4. Aspartate transaminase (AST) levels above the upper limit of normal showed a NPV of 94.4%; ferritin levels (> 1,000) a NPV of 75%, and MRI-derived LIC x age (> 480,000) a NPV of 80%. The combination of FI (either by biopsy or MRI) with transaminases, and of platelets with transaminases revealed a NPV of 100%.
Conclusions:
FI > 480,000 and platelets < 200,000 have the highest sensitivity for high-degree fibrosis prediction. A negative result allows to discard significant fibrosis in 94% of cases. MRI allows a good fibrosis prediction.
