Diagnostic value of various noninvasive indexes in the diagnosis of chronic hepatic fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE: Hepatic fibrosis is a repair response to chronic liver injury. This study evaluated the diagnostic value of various noninvasive indicators for hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: 95 patients with liver biopsy were enrolled in this study. Routine clinical and laboratory examinations were collected, including age, sex, blood routine, biochemistry, serum fibrosis, and FibroTouch. APRI and FIB4 scores were calculated. The patients were grouped according to liver pathological staging to analyze the correlation between the fibrosis with serum fibrosis, APRI, FIB4 score, and FibroTouch. The receiver operator characteristics of S2, S3, and S4 were analyzed to calculate the area under the curve (AUC).

RESULTS: No statistical difference was found on age, ALT, AST, GGT, BMI, TG, CHOL, and Glu (p > 0.05). Liver stiffness measurement (LSM), APRI, FIB4, PCIII, CIV, LN, and HA exhibited statistical significance (p < 0.05). Further correlation analysis showed that PCIII, IV-C, LN, APRI, LSM, and FIB4 were positively correlated with the stage of hepatic fibrosis (p < 0.05). ROC curve analysis demonstrated that LSM and FIB4 revealed good predictions of various stages of fibrosis in chronic liver disease with AUC greater than 0.7. The AUC of LSM in the diagnosis of liver cirrhosis (S4) reached 0.908. Its accuracy was influenced by liver inflammation.

CONCLUSIONS: The LSM value in FibroTouch showed high coincidence rate with hepatic fibrosis staging. It is a valuable noninvasive method for assessing the progression of hepatic fibrosis in chronic liver disease.