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Author Spotlight: Advancing Hepatic Fibrosis Diagnosis Using Magnetic Resonance Elastography and AI
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Non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis in chronic viral hepatitis

Olga H Orasan1, Mihaela Iancu2, Madalina Sava1

  • 14th Medical Department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

European Journal of Clinical Investigation
|October 2, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Non-invasive markers like FibroScan, APRI, and FIB4 effectively predict severe liver fibrosis (F4) in chronic viral hepatitis patients. These methods offer a valuable alternative to liver biopsy for evaluating fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B and C.

Area of Science:

  • Hepatology
  • Virology
  • Biomarkers

Background:

  • Liver biopsy, the gold standard for assessing liver fibrosis (F), carries risks.
  • Non-invasive markers are sought to evaluate liver fibrosis in chronic viral hepatitis B (CHB) and C (CHC).
  • Hyaluronic acid (HA), APRI, AST/ALT ratio, FIB4, and FibroScan were investigated as potential non-invasive markers.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the utility of HA, APRI, AST/ALT ratio, FIB4, and FibroScan in predicting severe liver fibrosis (F4) in Romanian patients with CHB and CHC.
  • To compare the efficacy of these non-invasive markers against liver biopsy.

Main Methods:

  • A prospective, multicenter, transversal, and observational study was conducted.
  • Seventy-six patients diagnosed with CHB/CHC were included.
  • Multiple binary logistic regression was used to analyze the independent effect of each marker.

Main Results:

  • FibroScan demonstrated high sensitivity (92%) and specificity (88%) for F4 with a cut-off of 13.15.
  • APRI (cut-off 0.70 ng/mL) and FIB4 (cut-off 2.01) also showed significant performance in identifying F4.
  • Positive correlations were observed between fibrosis stage and HA, FibroScan, APRI, and FIB4. FibroScan was the strongest predictor of F4 in multivariable analysis.

Conclusions:

  • FibroScan, APRI, and FIB4 are valuable non-invasive tools for evaluating F4 in CHB and CHC patients.
  • These markers provide a reliable alternative to liver biopsy for fibrosis assessment.
  • Further validation in diverse populations is warranted.
Abstract

Keywords:
APRIFibroScanchronic viral hepatitis Bchronic viral hepatitis Chyaluronic acidliver fibrosis

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