title: An ultrasound scoring system for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To establish noninvasive semiquantitative ultrasonic criteria for evaluating liver fibrosis and differentiating cirrhosis from chronic hepatitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 66 HBsAg positive patients (chronic hepatitis 42 patients, cirrhosis 24) were included. Ultrasonography was performed 24 hours before liver biopsy. A fibrotic scoring system was used to evaluate the ultrasound findings in contrast with fibrotic stages in each patient.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total liver fibrotic scores had a significantly positive correlation with the histological liver fibrotic stage (r = 0.952, P < 0.001); the stage of histological liver fibrosis (Y) was calculated by the total fibrotic scores (X) according to the experiential formula: Y = X/2 -2; receiver operating curves (ROC) showed that the best cut-off values for differentiating cirrhosis from chronic hepatitis was 10 with a sensitivity of 87.8% and a specificity of 97.6%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The total fibrotic scores of ultrasonic dimensional image provide a semiquantitative marker to evaluate liver fibrosis and differentiate cirrhosis from chronic hepatitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Beijing Hospital, Beijing 100730, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012015:Reference Standards; D014463:Ultrasonography